What exactly happened?
In Nigeria, there was a police unit called SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad). It was originally created to fight crimes like robbery. But instead of protecting people, the officers in this unit abused their power.
Reports stated that they extorted, tortured, and even killed people—often without reason. Young people with expensive phones, clothes, or cars were particularly targeted and arrested by the police.
Many were afraid of SARS, since nobody knew who might be the next victim of these officers.
At some point, people no longer wanted to accept this situation.
What triggered the “End-SARS” movement?
The End-SARS protests began in October 2020 after a shocking video went viral. In the video, a police officer was seen shooting a young man and then stealing his car.
This video was the trigger that exposed all the scandals that followed. People became very angry and started to share their experiences with the police on social media using the hashtag #EndSARS.
Especially young people took to the streets to demonstrate. They wanted the government to disband the unit and finally address problems like corruption and injustice in the country.
The protests were also supported by celebrities and people from other countries.
How did SARS change the political situation in Nigeria?
Eventually, the government announced that SARS was disbanded. But many people did not believe this, because the officers were simply reassigned to other departments.
October 20, 2020 was the worst day—the day of the Lekki Massacre. On that day, security forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrators in Lagos. Many were killed or seriously injured. This event made people even angrier, because it showed how little the government listened to the demands of the people.
Even though not much has changed since the protests, the End-SARS demonstrations proved how strong and determined young people in Nigeria can be.
Quiz
Speaker
What is especially close to my heart are the children, since my (grand-)children also live in Germany.
I design transcultural projects and implement them in diverse teams.
I consider discrimination-sensitive education to be very important. For this reason, I offer anti-discrimination and diversity trainings for educational institutions.
As an artist, I like to use art as a tool to support young people in their development and in finding their identity.
Support
This learning module was created with the kind support of the Stiftung Bildungschancen (Foundation for Educational Opportunities).
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