MY ANALYSIS OF THE RECENT NIGERIAN TRAGEDY
We are all aware of the happenings of the past two weeks. A nationwide protest calling on the government to #ENDSARS turned into a movement of demanding for accountability, better life, reformed institutions and above all, the right to live. It was beautiful to watch. The youths had finally found their voice to take over the nation and effect change. Their weapon was their voice and another beautiful and remarkable thing was that THE MOVEMENT HAD NO LEADER.
But things started to unravel really quickly. We started seeing young persons (thugs) with matchets, knives and batons trying to disrupt the peaceful protests. We believe that they were paid peanuts by the government (and as despicable as their actions are, I wouldn't judge them too harshly. It is very easy for a poor person to sell their soul for a piece of bread). Some were caught, beaten, fed and handed over to the police (who didn't arrest them btw). I believe the police might have done more but, you see, we, the protesters, had already excluded the police from the movement. Understandable considering all they've done in the past but completely unstrategic. We failed to realize that as despicable as the behavior of the police has been over the years, they are still victims of a failed system. We could have found a way to make them feel involved, like they will be a direct beneficiary of the revolution should it succeed. This particular error cost us heavily.
I pointed out that the movement had no leader, right? Good. A few days to the massacre and after seeing how this beautiful protest was slowly turning into chaos, I started to ask certain questions. What is the end game of this protest and has it been communicated effectively to the Nigerian youth? Yes, we shouldn't have a leader but then, it was very paramount that we have somebody in charge of strategizing, organizing and negotiating. But we really didn't want a leader. Ever taught of how the 5 for 5 demands were drafted? Who drafted them? Did we take into consideration the voices of other Nigerian youths before coming to the resolution? Were we really functioning as a democracy? If the protest had succeeded, who takes over? What structure do we run? The constitution obviously needs a reform. Who does this reform? What will be the process of getting it adopted?
Another mistake we made was ignoring and not asking for the inputs of the adults. We excluded them too with our chants of 'the OFF MIC generation', 'they failed us', etc. It was wonderful to chant. We were euphoric. Yay! Our generation will change this country and the world. Ladidadida. But things do not work that way. If we had listened to them, we would have been reminded that our President is a dictator. We may also have been told that in war, there will be a time where you have to retreat, go back to the drawing board and come back stronger. In our #ENDSARS war, it didn't occur to us to retreat. We were refusing to see the change in body language by the government. But the signs were all there.
If we had leaders who were excellent strategists, we, the protesters, would have been sent home after a week. We would have saved the extra cost of sustaining thousands of young people on the streets. We boast that we are the tech savvy generation. We could have used the blessings of this technology to set up a series of virtual meetings open to young Nigerians in the diaspora. In these meetings, we could have talked about the institutions we want to change, how we intend to change them and what we need to change them. We could have sustained the donations by letting the donors understand that these donations are to restructure the country and give our unborn children a better future. Nigerians donated for the #ENDSARS protest. There's no Nigerian anywhere who wouldn't donate to the cause of making this country better than we have met it.
Of course, the ruling class have more financial resources to keep this country in bondage. However, we would have applied a completely different tactic. 2023 is approximately 3 years away. We have enough time to start a robust grassroot mobilization. We could start talking to the underprivileged youths all over country, the ones we call thugs. We can start educating them on the dangers of vote selling and how the ruling class keeps stealing the resources meant for their better future. We could point out the plans we intend to execute and how they will be direct beneficiaries. Of course, they'll pass the message on. We can hold multiple youth conventions all over the country and even outside of Nigeria.
This generation makes up 80% of the entire population. We are one of the few countries that has been this greatly blessed. If we can take the happenings of this month in stride and focus on the big picture, we would be able to effectively mobilize and organize the Nigerian youth into taking over this country in an organized and completely well thought out manner.
As evil as I consider the President to be, he is right about one thing. If we want to change the system, we would have to join the system. May the good Lord look favorably upon us and may he give us the resilience to follow up the restructuring of the nation despite all that will be thrown at us as we forge ahead. Amen.
And may the souls of all the dead rest in peace. Their sacrifice must never be in vain.
But things started to unravel really quickly. We started seeing young persons (thugs) with matchets, knives and batons trying to disrupt the peaceful protests. We believe that they were paid peanuts by the government (and as despicable as their actions are, I wouldn't judge them too harshly. It is very easy for a poor person to sell their soul for a piece of bread). Some were caught, beaten, fed and handed over to the police (who didn't arrest them btw). I believe the police might have done more but, you see, we, the protesters, had already excluded the police from the movement. Understandable considering all they've done in the past but completely unstrategic. We failed to realize that as despicable as the behavior of the police has been over the years, they are still victims of a failed system. We could have found a way to make them feel involved, like they will be a direct beneficiary of the revolution should it succeed. This particular error cost us heavily.
I pointed out that the movement had no leader, right? Good. A few days to the massacre and after seeing how this beautiful protest was slowly turning into chaos, I started to ask certain questions. What is the end game of this protest and has it been communicated effectively to the Nigerian youth? Yes, we shouldn't have a leader but then, it was very paramount that we have somebody in charge of strategizing, organizing and negotiating. But we really didn't want a leader. Ever taught of how the 5 for 5 demands were drafted? Who drafted them? Did we take into consideration the voices of other Nigerian youths before coming to the resolution? Were we really functioning as a democracy? If the protest had succeeded, who takes over? What structure do we run? The constitution obviously needs a reform. Who does this reform? What will be the process of getting it adopted?
Another mistake we made was ignoring and not asking for the inputs of the adults. We excluded them too with our chants of 'the OFF MIC generation', 'they failed us', etc. It was wonderful to chant. We were euphoric. Yay! Our generation will change this country and the world. Ladidadida. But things do not work that way. If we had listened to them, we would have been reminded that our President is a dictator. We may also have been told that in war, there will be a time where you have to retreat, go back to the drawing board and come back stronger. In our #ENDSARS war, it didn't occur to us to retreat. We were refusing to see the change in body language by the government. But the signs were all there.
If we had leaders who were excellent strategists, we, the protesters, would have been sent home after a week. We would have saved the extra cost of sustaining thousands of young people on the streets. We boast that we are the tech savvy generation. We could have used the blessings of this technology to set up a series of virtual meetings open to young Nigerians in the diaspora. In these meetings, we could have talked about the institutions we want to change, how we intend to change them and what we need to change them. We could have sustained the donations by letting the donors understand that these donations are to restructure the country and give our unborn children a better future. Nigerians donated for the #ENDSARS protest. There's no Nigerian anywhere who wouldn't donate to the cause of making this country better than we have met it.
Of course, the ruling class have more financial resources to keep this country in bondage. However, we would have applied a completely different tactic. 2023 is approximately 3 years away. We have enough time to start a robust grassroot mobilization. We could start talking to the underprivileged youths all over country, the ones we call thugs. We can start educating them on the dangers of vote selling and how the ruling class keeps stealing the resources meant for their better future. We could point out the plans we intend to execute and how they will be direct beneficiaries. Of course, they'll pass the message on. We can hold multiple youth conventions all over the country and even outside of Nigeria.
This generation makes up 80% of the entire population. We are one of the few countries that has been this greatly blessed. If we can take the happenings of this month in stride and focus on the big picture, we would be able to effectively mobilize and organize the Nigerian youth into taking over this country in an organized and completely well thought out manner.
As evil as I consider the President to be, he is right about one thing. If we want to change the system, we would have to join the system. May the good Lord look favorably upon us and may he give us the resilience to follow up the restructuring of the nation despite all that will be thrown at us as we forge ahead. Amen.
And may the souls of all the dead rest in peace. Their sacrifice must never be in vain.
The sacrifice surely must not be in vain.
ReplyDeleteNice article.