By Dr Leke Adebisi
The #EndSARS rally started with a peaceful protest against the intimidation and unlawful killing of Nigerians by the members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS); an arm of the Nigeria Police charged with the responsibility to protect the citizens from the hands of ‘the men of the underworld’, or simply put, armed robbers. However, the SARS quickly became the assailants who, at gun point, forcefully steal from the same citizens.
The conveners of this peaceful protest were mainly youths between ages 16-35 years old. It was as if these young men and women had a magic wand, within days of the #EndSARS protest, the government acceded to their demand by announcing the withdrawal of SARS from the streets with a plan to introduce a new body called SWAT. With the proscription of SARS achieved in days, the protesters then moved to their secondary requests to end corruption, police brutality and many other ills of the society. By the way, it is no secret that Nigeria has been in dire economic situation, in fact the government declared that it borrowed 5,000 metric tons of grains from the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) only two months ago. These cracks are beginning to show everywhere you turn.
For instance, Nigeria’s budget for the year 2021 is titled the ‘Budget of Economic Recovery and Resilience’. The most shocking aspect of the budget is the whooping deficit forecast of N5.196 Trillion. The country is expecting a total revenue of N7.886 Trillion within the year while it plans to spend N13.08 Trillion. When asked how to finance the planned deficit, the government was bold to declare that the regime will borrow to close the deficit gap. The question is why spend the money you do not have?
In reaction to the youth protests and the nastiness that led to the #EndSARS agitation, the leader of the House of Representative– Mr Femi Gbajabiamila – vowed not to sign the 2021 budget until salient and burning conditions which furthers the course of the unrest were met. He alluded to the need for the government to compensate all SARS victims by ensuring that those compensation commitments are reflected in the budget. By implication, the budget deficit is set to increase. Already, Nigeria is signing off a loan with China purportedly for the revamping of its rail network, a loan that would be paid by the future generation, another future burden for the youths, no wonder they are taking their lives in their hand now.
In all of these, there is hope in the thought that the youths have woken up to the reality that their future is being mortgage on the platter of government borrowings. The basics they need to shape their life are in obscurity. There are no jobs for them unless they have someone highly placed in the system who can swing it for them, otherwise, they have to live on parent’s kindness or wait for election year to be recruited as political thugs and so on. On a flip side, for those who are super desperate is to join the ‘Hushpuppy’ gang tagged ‘yahoo-yahoo’ boys or may be to remain jobless. Bear in mind, most of these youths are after university graduates. These realities created the overwhelming youth support not only for an #EndSARS, but also for #EndSWAT, #EndNigeriaPoliceBrutality and now #EndNASS. The youths declared and #EndSARS: The Harbinger of a Revolution Dr Leke Adebisi firmly believed that hope is much needed for tenacity not to back out, under the dark clouds which lowers above the horizon.
Finally, after about 10 days of peaceful protest nationwide, Lagos became the decisive battle ground for the #EndSARS massacre when military men unleashed horror and terror on the unarmed protesting youths. Earlier in the day the Lagos State Governor – Jide SanwoOlu declared a state-wide curfew, which come into force from 4pm of the same day – 20.10.2020 (a day never to be forgotten). By 7pm, the protesting youths in their thousands refused to vacate the streets in defiance of the curfew pronouncement, then mayhem struck!
It was primarily at the Lekki tollgate, a rich and affluent area in Lagos, that became a site of chainsaw massacre. The men of the military adopted ‘Gestapo Tactics’, unleashing terror on innocent unarmed civilians. While the youths were on a peaceful occupation of the tollgate, the lights around the toll location was switched off, thereby plunging them into darkness and all Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras switched off, signalling for the military soldiers to advance with the sole aim of maiming, killing and inflicting pain on the peaceful protesters, who were all seated on the floor, chanting the National Anthem and holding the Nigerian flag. The looming question is – on whose authority have they done this?
The Lagos State Governor says he does not know who gave the order and the Chief of Army Staff is also not taking responsibility. All we know is these miscreants in uniform swept through a peaceful neighbourhood and turned it into confusion, reportedly leaving many dead and several others with bodily scars and, of course, psychological trauma that they will live with for the rest of their lives.
The action of the Nigeria Army was typical of other known revolutions in history. The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 is an example, resulting from the mass demonstration against poverty, corruption and the political repression in several Arab countries, which led to citizens setting grit on known major challenges against entrenched authorities in the Middle East and North Africa. This brought about the ousting of Hosni Mubarak from power, the longest serving and most influential president of Egypt. The popularity or unpopularity of this regime notwithstanding, the buck stops with President Muhammadu Buhari. There are several low hanging fruits that could be harnessed at no cost to the administration with immense benefits for the country and by extension providing the much-needed hope to the youth.
As asserted earlier, must a government spend the money it does not have? Why must Nigeria borrow N5.196 Trillion in the name of covering its budget deficit? This deficit budget includes salaries and allowances of the members of the National Assembly (NASS). A Senator in the upper chamber receives N36,000,000 (Thirty-six million Naira) monthly. This sum is equivalent to employing 1200 youths who will earn a national minimum wage of N30,000 each. If Nigeria were to cut its NASS membership by half from its current 109 members, it would have successfully used this savings for the employment of 65,400 youths that will earn a national minimum wage of N30,000 each. This is only a cost savings from the upper house of the National Assembly. It is quite debateable, but do we need 109 Senators? Anyway, majority of the time, we see a sizeable number of them sleeping while the assembly is in session.
In the same vein, within the House of Representative, each members of the lower chamber receives a salary of N25,000,000 (twenty-five million Naira) monthly. The lower house has about 360 members, If Nigeria were to reduce the members of the lower house by half, it would have been able to employ 75,000 youths earning a national minimum wage of N30,000 each.
It follows from the above analysis that Nigeria as a nation is capable of employing 140,400 youths without any extra budgetary implication. This is achieved only by looking at a single point of a seeming waste – legislative arm of government. All that has been done is to reduce the number of members in both houses without reducing their income. We may even protect the number of legislators but reduce their earnings. Respectively at N36 million and N25 Million monthly pay for senators and house of representative members, in a country where the statutory minimum wage is N30,000 is exorbitantly unfair. Measures directed at of cost improvements and efficiency savings as shown in the case of the Legislature, is a major stride towards the correction of the negative economic trend in Nigeria, a tangent which the youths are adamant to reverse.
In the words of Martin Luther King – ‘Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness’. The government must now prove that this is a country that loves peace and firmly in tune with a constructive and pivotal democratic process, the test of which would be to first listen to the youths. Secondly to engage with the families of the SARS and #EndSARS massacre, in order to alleviate their pains and loss both in commiseration and compensation. This would not only give us all a sense of hope that we have a listening government, it would also demonstrate that the government is ready to reroute this country in the path of recovery.
Ultimately, those monsters behind the havoc wrecked at the Lekki tollgate must not be allowed to go free, they must be uncovered for Nigerians to see or else it would be an impetus for them to perpetrate another havoc elsewhere.
