As protests against police brutality have sparked across the world in light of George Floyd’s death, the citizens of Nigeria have been protesting against their own corrupt law enforcement, an anti-theft branch known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS.)
The SARS unit has a long history of complaints regarding corruption, particularly when it comes to the extortion and abuse of Nigerian citizens, yet little has been done to protect those in Nigeria from the group’s inhumane brutality.
Violent crime plagued Nigeria after the country won its independence from Britain in 1960. In 1992, SARS was implemented as a response to this criminal activity. Since then, SARS officers have attacked, tortured, kidnapped, raped and extorted many Nigerian citizens without facing consequences.
“Young people — particularly men with nice clothes, watches or dreadlocks —were accused of being “Yahoo boys” (a local term for internet scammers), shaken down, detained and tortured,” Amnesty International Nigeria program manager Seun Bakare told Time Magazine in October of this year of a common SARS practice.
This year, Nigerians have taken to the streets and social media to finally let the world know what is going on in their country. Still, there has been little media coverage in the U.S. of the extent of SARS’ brutality. President Trump did not hesitate to tweet about the parade for him in Nigeria, yet he still has not acknowledged the exhausting fight for justice also going on there.
The U.S. government needs to intervene and help put an end to this organization’s inhumane rule, and American citizens need to understand that just because it is not happening on our land or directly to us does not mean it isn’t affecting us. We need to educate ourselves on what is going on outside of American borders.
Even though Nigeria is on a different continent, social unrest in the country can result in economic changes that also impact America. This is especially serious considering that Nigeria’s economy is the largest and most influential in Africa. As a major exporter of crude oil — with Americans investing millions in the country’s petroleum industry — Nigeria is also one of our largest trading partners in Africa.
The American government created the UN after World War II to maintain peace between countries and promote human rights. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. withdrew from the United Nations’ Human Rights Council and has stopped providing funds to the organization as a whole.
Our federal government needs to step in and help the Nigerian people combat these human rights abuses. Downplaying what is happening there solely because it is not happening on American soil is ignorant. People are being killed in the streets of Nigeria. We cannot ignore their cries for help any longer.
President Trump has downplayed the severe human rights abuses happening in Nigeria — but I can log onto Twitter right now and see videos of peaceful protests followed by pictures of those same protestors’ dead bodies lying in the dirt.
We need to do something. America needs to do something. The UN needs to do something. People are dying — children are dying — and we cannot watch and wait around for Nigeria to collapse at the hands of corruption.
Tamia Southall is a 19-year-old mass communication major from New Orleans.
