This idea all over my TL that the violence at the protests is sponsored by the govt is just depressing. Even in the U.K. with the mildest police, violence broke out to say nothing of Chicago or New York. Come on guys
The key ingredient is able bodied young men with nothing but time on their hands. And no country in the world has more of that constituency than Nigeria. Govt or no govt instigation, you should be surprised if protests *don’t* degenerate in this way.
I hope this incredible opportunity to drive real change is not now lost. Protests are a powerful tool in a democracy but they’re one of many tools to drive change. They should lead to a ferment of ideas for reform that lead to real change
I have to say I’m not really seeing this. But this is just my personal opinion and nothing against those who are having to think in the heat of the moment. Sometimes the govt’s problem is simply an inability to think outside an ossified box
Simply handing them a laundry list of demands to go and implement will only give you so much.
As I said before, the tone of the govt’s response to the protests has been ok. The problem has been the substance. That’s the opportunity
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What if you focused on Nigerian Police Colleges for overhaul? Potentially, you can start seeing results in under 2 years and it will cost almost nothing #EndSARS
How does one become a Nigerian Police officer? The ‘training’ can be as little as 6 months. And whatever it is they are teaching them is obviously not very useful #EndSARS
There are only 4 Police Colleges (?) [Ikeja, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Oji-River]. What if you made a demand for an overhaul of the curriculum? Do you think they’re taught things like de-escalation or community relations?
By the way this option has a precedent. When Tafa Balogun became IG, he set up a handpicked team that went around raiding other police checkpoints (often with cameras). They would search the pockets of the police officers there and if they found money, arrest them
It was quite fun and it did work for a while. Look, I know Tafa Balogun eventually went to prison for stealing money meant for police salaries and pensions but we are discussing options here so let’s focus please
This leads me to a funny story I may have shared before but is worth sharing again. During this period I was in University in Nigeria. One way the police reacted to Tafa’s regime was to constantly keep their bribes in a can or box somewhere away from them. Never in their pockets
So how do you actually end SARS? This a LOT harder than people think and will involve an incredible amount of work. But these protests have presented an opportunity to get it done that is better than previous opportunities
Again, SARS is the textbook definition of a rogue unit. It ought to be painfully clear to anyone watching this drama that the Inspector General of Police has zero control over them. He doesn’t even know how many of his men are in SARS
Not long after the IG announced he was ‘replacing’ SARS with the brand new never before seen SWAT, internet archaeologists dug up these
First of all, if you are a sadist and want to design a police unit that is unaccountable and operates with impunity, you will struggle to come up with anything worse than SARS.
First one - count the number of testimonies of people’s encounters with SARS and see how many times people say they were not even sure if it was Police or Armed Robbers. They wear ripped jeans and have NO name badges or numbers. But this isn’t even the worst part
So there’s now something of a challenge with #EndSARS. I’m a bit conflicted because, strictly speaking, disbanding and redeploying the SARS men is the only thing can *technically* be done
This is because the SARS guys are regular police officers who get posted to the SARS unit (often after paying bribes to get deployed there). No one joins SARS directly. And you can’t fire all police officers who are in SARS. Tricky
But this doesn’t mean disbanding is of no effect. It has been centuries since Thucydides gave us the insight that when in a group, humans often behave more discreditably than they would ordinarily do as individuals
2 white dudes with nothing but an interesting idea set out for Nigeria. After meeting with frustration and only a commissioner they decided to try out Ghana where they had a better reception up to VP level.
YET NIGERIANS MADE THE LOUDEST NOISE ABOUT IT ON THIS APP. I'M ANGRY!
I'm still upset and I can't let this matter go. I am sorry
Do you know the number of actual investments that started off in Nigeria and ended up in Ghana simply because Ghanaians are nicer and friendlier people with a better business environment? Let me give you one - Movenpick Hotel Accra