THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE #ENDSARS PROTEST IN NIGERIA.
The #EndSARS peaceful protest across the country which started on 4th October 2020, was as a result of a protracted police brutality on innocent youth who are usually tagged “Yahoo-boys” by the police. These act elicited sympathy and solidarity from Nigerians and spread like wild fire across all the states especially in the South-West, South-East and among other Nigerians in the diaspora. The end to this continued struggle is yet in sight as the protesters unanimously demanded for a better Nigeria and meaningful living in a country where the masses are silently dying of hunger, and youths are constantly being harassed in their day to day activities and also deprived of basic social amenities; while elected officials and other leaders live in luxury.
It’s quite unfortunate that what earlier started as a peaceful protest without leadership, as only many movie stars, comedians, music celebrities and other social media influencers joined the youths to advocate for social justice and an abrupt end to Police brutality was later hijacked by hoodlums and miscreants who disrupted the protest by attacking the peaceful protesters causing jailbreaks, burning down shops, Police stations, well-established businesses and government agencies were also gutted by fire.
Just as the devil fishes in troubled waters, these hoodlums ceased the opportunity, which the protest created, to break people’s stores, Government-owned warehouses where COVID -19 food relief materials were stored, as they carted away with goods and food items worth billions of Naira across the country.
Lagos State was not spared as the popular “Lagos Toll Gate” acclaimed to usually generates 500million to the state on daily basis was hijacked, causing economic setback as well as the destruction of lives and properties. While many lives were lost, others sustained different degrees of injuries in their strong resolve to end bad governance and social injustice in Nigeria.
Regrettably, the resultant effects of this protest and associated damages by hoodlums will not only trigger hunger but will also cause huge loss of income per capital, job retrenchment, increase in exchange rate, marginal drop of oil prices in the international market and increase of oil prices at home, as most establishments will not be able to pay worker’s salaries and meet up with overhead costs and logistical operations.
Unfortunately, Nigeria as a third world nation, and her economy, may relapse into a prolonged coma if urgent interventionist approach by the Federal Government is not adopted to reconstruct most of the vandalised Government establishments across the states especially, in Lagos, Africa’s largest market and the country’s most productive commercial hub.
Already, facts, figures and cost of reconstructing damaged Government properties and establishments by the alleged hoodlums and looters have started trickling in as the negative economic impact of the #EndSARS protest across the country shall leave a sour taste on the lips of all Nigerians as we now pay N170 per litre of petrol Nigeria.
Though it’s constitutional to have a peaceful protest in Nigeria but it’s also necessary to always look at the negative effects on the masses and the country at large.
