President Buhari has reacted to the Endsars demonstration going all around Lagos in protest of the highhandedness of the Nigerian police tactical force, SARS (The Special Anti Robbery Squad).
His reaction came as a backdrop to that of the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, through her verified Twitter handle, where she noted that- “Peaceful protests are powerful”. She further opined that the police reforms act recently passed by President Buhari should provide a good foundation for transparency and accountability for the police force.
President Buhari mentioned that he again met with the IGP of police lastnight, and noted that his administration’s resolve and determination to reform the Nigeria Police Force should not be in doubt. He therefore, instructed the IGP to conclusively address the concerns of Nigerians on Police brutality.
In his words:
EndSARS, and the Future of the Nigerian Youths
It seems in the eyes of Nigeria’s police, any young man with a laptop, smartphone and an internet connection is likely a fraudster.
Such profiling has no bearing in reality, of course. It’s merely a crude extortion tactic that has fueled a long-running racket. Here’s how it often goes: the young person is stopped on suspicion, then arrested and detained followed up being hit with bogus accusations of being an internet fraudster.
In those circumstances, the options are usually paying bribes to regain freedom or facing an uncertain future decided by Nigeria’s broken criminal justice system which has left 72% of prison inmates serving time without a sentence – Source.
Unfortunately, such barbaric acts by the police Special Anti Robbery squad has left its mark on the Nigerian youth.
In a country with a majority youth population, such menace, if left unchecked would indeed put the future of the country and indeed that of her youth at risk. A future that may not guarantee that the youth are able to effectively compete online, yet other nations are doing all possible to empower her youth by ensuring their widespread digital inclusion, globally.
It’s truly high time that the Nigerian police ends her SARS unit and do a complete overhaul of her system. There is a need for a complete culture overhaul of the Nigerian police force.
