Youths as Vanguards of Change in Nigeria: The #EndSARs Protests in Focus

Abstract

In every society, youths symbolize change and development. Their strength, inventiveness, dynamism and innovativeness are valuable resources which, if properly utilized can reposition a nation on the threshold of social, economic and political transformation. In spite of these tremendous assets, Nigerian youths have been contending with myriads of challenges such as poverty, unemployment, insecurity, drug abuse, political exclusion etc. Consequently, young people who navigate these challenges by engaging in income generating activities with little or no support from the government unfortunately became victims of extortion and oppression by the Nigerian Police. The failure of the State to check the excesses of its institutions eventually triggered decades of bottled up anger and frustration by Nigerian youths resulting in what became known as the famous #EndSARs protests. The protests blossomed on October 8, 2020 in Lagos and spread to other cities in Nigeria following weeks of outrage and frustration over recordings and pictures of police abuse, intimidation and extortion. The protesters eventually presented a list of five demands to reform the Nigerian Police. Using secondary data, findings from the study revealed that being part of a globalized world, Nigerian youths  have now become more conscious of the conditions that enslave them, hence their resolve to adopt non-violent means to dismantle the structures of injustice, oppression, domination and exploitation in their environment. The paper recommends that both the federal and state governments should create more job opportunities and regularly interact with the citizens to understand and respond appropriately to the challenges confronting them.