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#EndSARS Protests in Nigeria re-introduces conversations on the global generational divide.
After one week of nationwide anger, the Inspector General of Police and the President of Nigeria finally gave in and came on air to announce the dissolution of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS). This was of course quickly followed up by the setting up of another unit to replace the recently disbanded unit and a statement that full psychological assessments will be done on those disbanded and those to replace them. It was an efficient response to a national problem, perhaps, too efficient. Notable Nigerian activist Oby Ezekwesili captured this unnatural efficiency in her tweet: ‘Problem don change name’.
The SARS unit was well known for illegal arrests, physical assaults, sexual assaults on women, unlawful detention of citizens, framing, torture, blackmail, and extrajudicial killings. Amnesty International documents that there were at least 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment, and extra-judicial execution by SARS between January 2017 and May 2020.
This was the approach officers took: beating, arresting, cuffing, and firing live ammunition into crowds of protesters. What the SARS, like other equally corrupt institutions in Nigeria didn’t account for, was that it is dealing with a different generation. A generation that was born with all these tools, and are no…
