Nigeria lies at the extreme inner corner of the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. It is a compact area of 373,000 square miles, extending from the Gulf of Guinea on the south to the Sahara Desert on the north, and bounded on the west and north by Dahomey and Niger territories of French West Africa, and on the east by Lake Chad and the Cameroons under United Kingdom trusteeship. Nigeria today is marked by the emergence in various epochs of civilisations, kingdoms, states and empires, as well as a caliphate and colonial rule, before the founding of the Nigeria Nation-State in 1914 and its subsequent independence in 1960. Protests have repeatedly motivated positive social change. Through protesting, individuals and groups express disagreement, opinions and objections to government actions or inactions. Protests bring attention to errors in governance and demand their rectification. The right to peaceful protest is protected under the international and African regional human rights frameworks, including the Nigerian Constitution. In Nigeria, the Public Order Act is designed to support the appropriate and peaceful conduct of peaceful assemblies (protests), meetings and processions. Nigeria has a rich history of struggles for self-determination and social change.
However, in addressing socio-political conflicts, the Nigerian state is found wanting. It is always prone to the use of force. Where there is relative peace, it is often considered the peace of the graveyard compelled by the use of force by the government. The force is employed to suppress fundamental human rights of freedom of speech, assemblage, and peaceful protest. Thus, uprising against unpopular government policies and lack-luster performance is often subdued through militaristic approach. This is not surprising since Nigeria has witnessed switchovers from colonial rule to military rule and has developed violence as a culture of handling differences. According to a scholar, it is rightly argued that authoritarian rule characterized by more exclusionary multi-ethnic coalitions creates legacies that amplify the risk of violence during the shift to multi-party politics. While colonial experience and legacy of authoritarian rule also enhance the vulnerability of African states to the use of brute force. This predisposition accounts for why states usually employ suppressive techniques in addressing even genuine grievances against the state. Thus, in situations where the government does not enjoy the confidence of the citizens, there are regular face-offs with the police and other law enforcement agencies. The security agency psyche is programmed towards ensuring regime security as against human security.
Protest as part of Contentious Politics in Nigeria
British administration in Nigeria did not formally commence until 1861, the year that Lagos was ceded to the Crown. For many centuries before then, however, northern Nigeria had been subjected to external influences from the large medieval kingdoms of the western Sudan (Ghana, Melle, and Songhai), from the Maghreb and Tripolitania, and from Egypt via Lake Chad and the Nile-Niger traverse previously mentioned. The important immigrations of northern Nigerian groups (Fulani, Hausa, Kanuri) were directly connected with disturbances resulting from the spread of Islam in Egypt and North Africa in and after the seventh century. Since the establishment of British administration in Nigeria, Western economic forces have profoundly changed both the structure of traditional Nigerian societies and the perspectives of Nigerian peoples. The tempo and character of the changes created situations and attitudes that have predisposed many Nigerians to racial consciousness and nationalist activity. The leaders and most of the active supporters of the Nigerian nationalist movement came from the ranks of those who had been most strongly affected by Western influences, and in particular from the Western-educated, English-speaking minority.
The Nigerian nationalism, like that which arose in all parts of Africa under colonial rule, was a demand for freedom in response to colonial domination in the country. Although nationalism unfolded in different phases, the central theme that the idea connotes was its agitation for independence and the freedom of Nigerians to govern themselves. Thus, the idea of freedom was the driving force of nationalists at the time. While the ideas of nationalism and freedom featured between 1900 and 1960, there is the lingering and almost sometimes irrelevant question of the status accorded to women both as individuals who were members of the colonial state and fragments in the nationalist struggle for freedom and in this sense struggling for freedom alongside their male counterparts from colonialism as well as freedom from the male dominated political terrain. Early nationalists tended to ignore Nigeria as the focus of patriotism; rather, the common denominator was based on a newly assertive ethnic consciousness, particularly Yoruba and Igbo. Despite their acceptance of European and North American influences, the nationalists were critical of colonialism for its failure to appreciate the antiquity of indigenous cultures. They wanted self-government, charging that only colonial rule prevented the unshackling of progressive forces in Africa. In order to understand this rationale, we must digest the details of the major protests in Nigeria, from the colonial rule to present day:
Aba Women’s Riot (6 December, 1929): Organised by Igbo women in eastern Nigeria. It led to the deaths of many of the women. The rebellion was triggered by the imposition of exploitative tax policy on women, who were tax-exempt in the Igbo tradition. The plot and outcomes of this event provide just one example of Africa’s long history of embracing classical liberal values and provide a stark contrast to the deplorable state of human freedom across the continent today.
Abeokuta Women’s Revolt (27 November, 1947): This protest was organised by Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) and led by Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti at the Alake’s Palace, Abeokuta and which led to the abdication of the then Alake of Egbaland, Oba Sir Ladapo Ademola II and the abolition of the tax regime by the colonial government. Ransome-Kuti railed against what she said were unfair taxes levied on small traders – many of whom were women, who she led in colourful campaigns. After one victory over water rates in 1959, the Daily Times of Nigeria reported that thousands of supporters of the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Union (NWU) – which had formed out of the AWU – danced around Abeokuta town.
Ali Must Go (17 April, 1978): The Ali Must Go protests erupted in April 1978, following a controversial decision by the Olusegun Obasanjo-led military government to add $50,000 to the students’ cost of meals per day. The increase meant that undergraduates would have to pay an additional 50k every day as their cost of meal tickets rose from ₦1.50k to ₦2.00. The then Minister of Education, Ahmadu Ali, announced the hike, but the students widely rejected the idea. Following the announcement, the National Union of Nigeria Students (NUNS), led by Segun Okeowo, the then-president of the union, made a move to address the issue.
Anti-SAP riots (24 May–JJune, 1989): The 1989 protests were against the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) prescribed by the IMF (International Monetary Fund). The IMF wanted the Government of Nigeria to stop some subsidies and to introduce restructuring programs as defined by the IMF. And true enough, the government accepted the advice of the IMF, but the bitterness in the effects of the introduction of the SAP prompted the general protests.
June 12 Protests (1993): The protests occurred as an aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections by Ibrahim Babangida. Protests over the June 12 injustice and state brutality were climaxed by the assassination of Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, in June 1996 and the mysterious death in detention of Abiola himself on July 7, 1998. While it is true that Nigeria’s political landscape has been dominated by repulsive inter/intragroup struggle for elite positions right from the period of decolonization till date, the events that surrounded the truncated Third Republic (June 12, 1993 presidential election) clearly demonstrated that ethnic factors remained the most potent threat not only to democracy but also to the continuous corporate survival of the Nigerian Federation.
Occupy Nigeria (2-14 January, 2012): On January 1, 2012, former President Goodluck Jonathan abruptly ended fuel subsidies, sparking the Occupy Nigeria protest. Occupy Nigeria was an anti-subsidy removal campaign, which was later propagated to unseat Jonathan and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It was also one of the corridors through which the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was installed. Similarly, it led to the reinstatement of the subsidy and a review of the federal government’s spending.
End SARS (2020): Nationwide protests against police brutality, specifically the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), resulted in significant international attention and the eventual disbandment of SARS by the Nigerian government. By 1992, when SARS was founded, the precedent of controlling Nigerian people through excessive force had long been the norm: British colonizers had arrived in the 19th century and treated the land and its people as resources to be controlled and plundered. Their colonial enterprise had left behind a culture of violence and corruption so that even after Nigeria won independence in 1960, military coups became the norm. The army held power in Nigeria for much of three decades until 1999, including when SARS, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, was created. On 4 October 2020, a video went viral showing SARS officers dragging two men from a hotel and shooting one of them outside. A few days later, protests erupted across Nigeria. On 11 October, SARS is disbanded. But it was the 5th time since 2015 that the Nigerian authorities pledged to reform the police and disband SARS. Protests continued demanding more than empty promises.
End Bad Governance in Nigeria (1-10 August, 2024): Nationwide protest over the rising cost of living since the beginning of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in May 2023. The protest was driven by multiple factors, including the high cost of living, a recent fuel price hike, worsening economic conditions, and dissatisfaction with government policies. Also, protesters rallied under the hashtag #EndBadGovernance, demanding not just economic relief but also transparency, accountability, and good governance. Organisers of the protests are calling for the reversal of the fuel price hike, the restoration of affordable electricity tariffs, and the reduction of import duties to their previous rates.
The Dynamics
The struggle against ethnic chauvinism should be the responsibility of the vast majority of Nigerians who have remained largely silent, remote from the political and economic seats of power, and merely marginal to the realm of income distribution. It should not be waged under the leadership of that segment of the population, which benefits from contemporary inter-ethnic situations. Analysts indicated that one of the most important lessons to emerge from the protests is the need for political leaders in countries like Nigeria, which are pursuing growth and development, to strike a delicate balance between the prescriptions of international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank and the welfare of their citizens. While these institutions often provide necessary financial support and guidance, their recommendations can sometimes be at odds with the immediate needs and realities of the local population. Governments have a duty to prioritize the well-being of their citizens above all else, even when this means pushing back against external pressures.
Likewise, it is time for our leaders to demonstrate that they value us, the citizens, above all else, and to take meaningful steps to ensure that our voices are heard and our needs are met. Experts argue that new democracies growing out of mass mobilization are more likely to survive than are new democracies that were born amid quiescence. Many contentious political studies have uncovered that digital media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, and mobile social networking applications, such as WhatsApp, when used, facilitate the organization and documentation of protests. Even if the nation seems ungovernable or difficult, the young people must evaluate its different challenges, recommend policies and laws, and advocate for their adoption and enforcement. If those in political positions do not think, it would not be out of place for the young people, who are mostly affected, to think for them.
However, another disturbing trend of social media and their mobilization prowess is the possibility of harvesting it for subversive ends. Separatist agitators use it to garner popularity and deploy it negatively to subvert progress and unity in the country. The Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and their use of social media is a case study in this regard. Although this position calls for a more critical assessment, the point is that social media can be negatively deployed to attain subversive goals against the quest for national development. The irony of social media is that the very attributes that constitute their strengths and opportunities also largely account for their weaknesses and threats to national development. This dual nature, therefore, implies that the application of the platforms for national development must carefully consider its two sides to properly mainstream them in the process of attaining national development.
In addition, most of the protests in Nigeria are usually hijacked by opposition elements to push their own political or parochial ethnic agendas in an attempt to discredit the government or wrest power. This postulation became obvious in the #EndSARS protest in 2020 as opposition parties and secessionist promoters gave financial and material supports for the elongation of the protest. By and large, how the government handles legitimate or genuine complaints from the people determines the course of political participation. Most protests against the state‘s actions, inactions, or policies start as a peaceful action, but the use of force or militarized policing often aggravates the protests to a violent proportion. Experts agree that protest escalates to violence where the government has a penchant to opt for repression and posit that poor handling of protest through repression and militarism is adversarial and unproductive. Rather, the state should embrace dialogue as a non-adversarial technique to ease tension anytime there is a genuine complaint by the people. It is also recommended that political actors should take the welfare of the citizens as the most important means of removing social exclusion. Also, using apparatus of state for self-enrichment and promotion of class or group hegemony with the tint of religion and ethnicity should be addressed frontally by all Nigerians.
An observer says it is time for a fundamental shift in approach. Protests must be conducted within a framework that safeguards the rights of all. Organisers must be held accountable for the actions of their followers. Law enforcement must be equipped and empowered to maintain order without resorting to excessive force. And most importantly, the government must address the root causes of the unrest with urgency and determination. Only then can Nigeria hope to emerge from this crisis as a stronger, more united nation. In addition, with each passing day there are options: the government either backs down and assents to the demands of labor/civil society or that the protest fizzles out and it’s back to business as usual. Reaching a compromise between both parties is not impossible.
ــــــــــــــ
This article expresses the views and opinions of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Qiraat Africa and its editors.
