Youth’s Perceptions on Police Brutality, Injustice and EndSARs Protest Among Nigerians. a Study of Youths in Selected Local Government Areas in Oyo State
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of study
The overall objective study is to assess the perception of youths on police brutality, injustice and the endsars protest in Oyo sate, Nigeria.
Other Objectives
- To determine the level of police brutality in Oyo state.
- To determine the causes of injustice among Nigerian police officers in Oyo state.
- To determine the effect of the endsars protest on police brutality.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
CONCEPTUALUAL FRAMEWORK
Some articles had been written about EndSARS because it is a new phenomenon with an old subject matter. The agitation for the disbandment of SARS was not recent but long ago. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this part of the paper to elucidate concepts that are used by other authors. This is because these concepts may have a different meaning in other discussions.
Youth Movement in Nigeria
Youths in Nigeria formed a movement seeking for the attainment of self-government, social unity, economic, environment etc. Ginn, (2011) stated that Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) was Nigeria’s the first genuine nationalist organization, founded in Lagos in 1934 with Professor Eyo Ita as the founding father and many others compatriot Nigerians. The 1934 youth’s movement has the following objectives to:
- work towards the unity of Nigeria;
- work towards the attainment of self-rule; and
- unite all ethnic groups in Nigeria for the fight against colonial
The recent youth’s movement was Nigerian’s youths protest, founded in Lagos in 2020 popularly known as #EndSARS. The protesters, a group of Nigerian youths under the umbrella of New Nigerian Youth Movement (NNYM) has drawn up an action plan to reposition the future, as well as demand to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and reform the Nigerian Police Force. The youths are calling for law enforcement agencies to respect the rule of law, respect for human rights and deepening democracy, the revival of the educational and health systems and stronger efforts toward job creation (Oluola 2020).
There is no visible leadership for the EndSARS protest. As a result, Kabir (2020) observed that unarguably, the absence of a formal leadership structure made the protests last for more than the period anyone could have thought. The 2020 youth’s movement has the following demands:
- Immediate release of all arrested protesters;
- Justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensations for their families;
- Setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reported police misconduct within 10 days;
- Carrying out psychological evaluation and retraining of all disbanded SARS operatives before redeploying (this should be verified by an independent body); and
- The government should increase police salary and be adequately compensated for protecting the lives and property of the citizens (Ukpe, 2020).
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad was created in 1992 as a response to violent crime, particularly armed robbery (Uwazuruike 2020). One of the basic responsibilities of the government in all societies is to ensure the safety of life and property of its citizens. Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Constitution), states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. Therefore, it is by establishing and maintaining an efficient police force that the government provides a feeling of security to its citizens. As a result, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is an agency established by law to ensure the preservation of public order and law enforcement as well as prevention and detection of crime (section 214(3) and 4 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria). The police play a vital role in the administration of justice in any society and present the entry point into the criminal justice system either through reports from the public or its investigation and surveillance (Benjamin, 2007). Special Anti-Robbery Squad popularly known as SARS was a segment of NPF saddled with responsibilities of curtailing armed robbery and other related crimes in Nigeria.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The study used descriptive research design. A descriptive study involves collecting data that test the validity of the hypotheses regarding the present status of the subjects of the study. In this study, the design was used to determine the youth’s perceptions on police brutality, injustice and endsars protest in Oyo state.
Population and Sampling Design
Population
The target population for a survey is the entire set of units for which the survey data are to be used to make inferences (Cooper and Schindler, 2001). Thus, the target population defines those units for which the findings of the survey are meant to generalize. Establishing study objectives is the first step in designing a survey. Defining the target population should be the second step. Target populations must be specifically defined, as the definition determines whether sampled cases are eligible or ineligible for the survey. The geographic and temporal characteristics of the target population need to be delineated, as well (Cox, 2008). Cox and West (1986) describe a population as a well- defined group of people or objects that share common characteristics.
A population in a research study is a group about which some information is sought. Most researchers cannot include all members of the population in their studies and must resort to limiting the number of subjects to only a sample from the population. The target population in this case were youths in Oyo state, Nigeria. The target population in this study was 205 in number.
Sampling Design
Sampling Frame
According to Currivan (2004) a sampling frame is a list of elements from which the sample is actually drawn and is closely related to the population. In the ideal case, the sampling frame should coincide with the population of interest.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
TEST OF HYPOTHESIS
Statement of Hypothesis
Ho1: H01: There is a significant difference in the perceptions of the youths in Oyo state on police brutality and injustice
H02: There is no significant effect of the endsars protest on police brutality.
The Decision Rule
A decision rule is the statistical objective procedure, which guides the researcher as to whether a particular hypothesis is accepted or rejected from a set of data.
In testing the above hypothesis, the decision rule states that at 0.5 level of significance with 1 degree of freedom of the calculated value of chi-square X2>X20, reject Ho and accept Hi, where X20 is the table value of 3.84.
CHAPTER FIVE
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Recommendation
The involvement in violent acts may not be unconnected with lukewarm attitude demonstrated by political leadership, extravagance behaviours exhibited by the politicians and socio-economic inequality permeating the nation. The widespread of employment and underemployment, poverty, poor sharing of resource and police brutality, extortion, exploitation, extrajudicial killings, have created a series of emotion and frustrations, thereby influencing the angry youths to agitated for changes or indulge in violent acts. The EndSARS protest has affected government, economic of the country, individual, group and many youths sustained different degree of injuries and some loss their lives.
Considering the implication, the negligent attitudes by the government against the Nigerian youth and what the youths can do, the paper, therefore, recommends the following:
- Government as a matter of urgency should reform the entire Nigerian police force and fetch out the bad eggs among So that the institution will regain its confidence from the public in general and Nigerians youths in particular. So that to avoid the future occurrences of EndSARS or any youth unrest in the country.
- The police organization should establish a strong committee that will look into any complaint of misconduct presented against SARS or any policeman. However, the perpetrators should have brought to book. That will be a deterrence to other rank and file in the police
- The youths on their part should engage in schooling, petty business, small and medium business to avoid idleness. In other words, you should invest their energies in productive activities capable of brightening their future life chances so that they can contribute implicitly to nation
- Also, the youths in the country should be allowed to express themselves and integrate them into governance, economic and any decision for the development of the country.
- The parent should take up their role seriously in terms of training, guarding and guiding their children. To keep their eyes on which friends are they moving with, where they are going. This will contribute immensely in preventing and protecting the children not to found themselves into moving with bad eggs youth, taking drugs, anti-social vices, violent acts
It is important to recognize that the judicial commissions of inquiry have started sitting in various states of the country. However, what will unfold next round of #EndSARS largely depends on the willingness of the Federal Government to investigate the Lekki Tollgate shootings of the #EndSARS protesters openly and transparently, and in good faith. Concerted efforts by the Federal Government to address the concerns in the 7-point agenda submitted to President Buhari would also boost the trust of the #EndSARS protesters and the supportive Nigerians in the diaspora.
Conclusion
The paper examined the issue of the youth’s movement concerning EndSARS protest to the challenges confronting or facing the Nigerian youths. Therefore, the public confidence should be resuscitated towards the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), this will protect the future reoccurrences. The relationship between Nigerian police and Nigerian youths are on the verge of deterioration. The poor attitude of the government of Nigeria and the Nigerian police brutality against the citizenry are the factors responsible for the EndSARS protest. This makes youths to create violent means to express their anger and grievances in form of violent acts.
There is a great need for improvement of surveillance equipment, protective equipment and sophisticated weaponry as indicated from the findings for proper performance and strengthening of the police work force. Other than that paramilitary training, civilian intelligence, use of civilian confidential information has been seen as being crucial in the performance of the police force in their operations. Most of the police officers have confidential informants and most see the information from the confidential informants being very effective in their execution of their duties. The confidential informants are used in getting of viable information which is to be used in their work especially in crimes to do with gangs and groups.
The powers and authority given to the police are very important in executing their duties especially in the curbing of the alarming increase in the insecurity in the country. There is high need to strengthen power to detain and jail any suspect of crime by the police officers. The major challenge facing the police officers is poor housing and long chain of commands the least challenge was that of delay of information and unfair treatment of female officers. The best solution to the challenges facing police officers is building of standard houses and also better payment of the officers while the least solution being increase in police training and proper training.
REFERENCES
- Amnesty International (2020). Urgent Action, EndSARS: Investigate Killing of protesters https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR4432542020ENGLISH.pdf
- Gann, B. (2011). The Nigerian Youth Movement (1934-1951). Retrieved from https://www.blackpast.org/global-africa-history/nigeria-youth-movement-1934-1951/
- Oluwola, O, Youth protests for police reform in Nigeria: What lies ahead for #EndSARS, Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/10/29/youth-protests-for-police-reform-in-nigeria-what-lies-ahead-for-endsars/
- Aliyu Tanko How the End Sars protests have changed Nigeria forever, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54662986
- Aina, F. (2020). Young People and Police Brutality: Generational Leadership in Nigeria. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/youth-and-leadership-in-nigeria/
- Benjamin. B. O, The Role of Nigeria Police Force in the Administration of Justice: Issues and Challenges A Thesis Submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of Master of Laws Degree Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
