Oh God of creation, direct our noble cause.
Guide our leaders right.
Help our youth the truth to know.
In love and honesty to grow.
And living just and true.
Great lofty heights attain.
To build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.
I was impressed by the intellect and passion for change demonstrated by Mr. Adedeji Julius, the Superintendent of Police, State Intelligence Bureau, Ado Ekiti, who led discussions and explained some of the challenges people like him face when trying to bring about change from within the force. He is one of the few good ones who give us hope that a comprehensive reform of our security architecture is possible. He took away feedback from the youth on the issues and promised to continue to champion change from within. Read about him via this link.
Again, this effort barely scratched the surface, because Mr. Adedeji Julius is one of the few men in the force confronting the monstrous problems. Where efforts like mine, and that of other well-meaning Nigerians have admittedly achieved little, our young people have pushed the limits and created a momentum with the potential to bring about the comprehensive change we seek. But they must manage this impetus carefully.
Without a doubt the problem is deep and requires extensive reforms. It requires leveraging the momentum and attention generated to force the hands of government to do what is right. The coming days are very important to the movement, and I hope our young people carefully manage the necessary transition from the barricades and street-level protests to a comprehensive plan for sustained engagement that would ensure government meets their demands. It is my opinion that the same energy and organization behind the street level protests should be translated to engaging government off the streets.
More importantly, I hope government would take concrete steps and demonstrate commitment to addressing the demands. Some things can be done NOW if indeed there is sincerity and a commitment to fixing these problems, and not just a desire to get the youth off the streets. This movement is like none before it, and the old ways of doing things would not just make this go away. These young people are wiser and understand history, and are not about letting up without securing a change in the country.
Government must make the best of whatever channels of communications to our young people that are available - do whatever is possible in the immediate term, and communicate the timeline and pathway to meeting the demands that require a medium to long term timeframe. Some may say, but our president, vice president, governors, e.t.c. have spoken. They have not spoken or done enough. You can not blame young people for not trusting our leaders. Our leaders must keep speaking measured words with the greatest degree of tact, eschewing condescending dispositions. They must keep talking and engaging, and appeasing, and reassuring - but most importantly doing what is necessary to fix the problems.
There is nothing that leads to a generational disconnect more than when elders fail to listen to young people. #Endsars is the result of years of ignoring the valid cries of young people, and excluding them from opportunities and crucial decision-making spaces that affect their lives. That is why one of the distinct features of the movement is the wholesale rejection of the paternalistic disposition of many government officials, in body language and rhetoric, when addressing the so-called 'phone-pressing' generation. With one voice they are reclaiming the idea that every citizen is entitled to be treated with dignity, have equal access to opportunities, and be protected by the state.
Leaders of the older generation at the helms of affairs in Nigeria must understand that they hold the fate of the country in trust for those coming after them, and should work towards bequeathing the country more united, inclusive, and prosperous than they met it. There is no seniority as far as citizenship is concerned, and leaders are indeed servants who are required to perform and be accountable to the people as an obligation and not a favor.
Young people all over Nigeria struggle, survive, and succeed, not with government support, but despite the lack of government support and the many obstacles in their way. How would such a society now descend so low to be eating her young? Killing and maiming them without remorse? How did we allow such a crisis to fester, where gory tales of police brutality go on, and just as they boast that "nothing would happen" - nothing indeed does happen, and police brutality goes on without consequences?
Like Petra Akinti Onyegbule said, "Nigeria sits atop and swims in the blood of the innocent." Indeed, there can be no peace and progress without justice, and the cries from the blood of many innocent people have reached the ears of God This is a turning point for Nigeria, hopefully.
We must fix this, and we must fix this quickly. Not paper over the issues thinking this would just go away, but tangibly address the root causes. I reiterate that I am adding my voice to the call for government to do what is right, and for our young people at the forefront of the #endsars protests to wisely manage the transition of the energy and momentum of the protests from the streets to sustained engagement that holds the feet of our leaders to fire, to meet the demands.
Akin Rotimi
October 2020
