On April 18, 2018, while speaking at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster, United Kingdom, President Muhammadu Buhari labeled Nigerian youths lazy and uneducated. He accused them of wanting everything provided for them without dirtying their hands. Not a few Nigerian youths were irked by the president’s comment and took to social media platforms, which is their tuff to condemn and reject that label.
The denigration of Nigerian youths did not start today. It flows from ages of successive governments hanging ugly labels on this huge segment of the Nigerian population, yet keep mouthing that the future of Nigeria belongs to the youths, but destroy that same future by their actions and inactions.
Today, the narrative has changed. These same supposedly lazy Nigerian youth have woken up to say enough is enough to police brutality with the hashtag: #ENDSARS. This hashtag represents a voice against Nigeria’s Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad – a security outfit that has dished out more brutality to the citizens – particularly youths than it has protected them.
Interestingly, no one saw this protest coming, and as the days rolled by, the protest kept spreading across the nation like harmattan fire even as the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Adamu announced the ban on SARS and to replace it with SWATS. The youths, and indeed, no one believes the IGP because this will not be the first time he will pronounce SARS banned.
Obviously, Nigerian youths seeing the opportunity this presents them had to throw other demands into the basket. Only time will tell who blinks first –the youths or the government. Our experience in Nigeria reveals that government does not suffer protests lightly no matter how peaceful. It will be surprising if the government does not take the inglorious path of applying force to scare the protesters away or even spill some blood.
What this protest tells us is that Nigerian youths are not lazy after all. They can think, they are resilient and innovative, they can act, and they can organize to drive home their demands. This is not a brick and mortar kind of protest; it is one driven by technology – where nothing is impossible and no walls can stand, and by the sheer strength of youthful vigour and zest. These protests show that when Nigerian youths get their acts together, no one can stop them.
It is heartening to know that the government says it will take a serious look at the demands made of them by the youth. Again, the question of trust creeps in. Nigerians have been lied to; too many times that no one believes government when it makes a promise to them.
Who knows; this time may be different. Therefore, we urge the government to regard #ENDSARS protests as an opportunity to do something different – to provide good governance that will guarantee the protection of lives and property across Nigeria, as well as deliver the good life to the over 200 million persons that populate Nigeria. It really does not make sense of living in a country where fear is always at our doorsteps, and where persons paid with taxpayers’ money to protect the people have become monsters in uniform.
Bravo to the youths. Who knows this may well be the beginning of that future everyone says belongs to them.
