Causes, consequences and control of student protests

Adams Onivehu

doi:10.7441/soced.2021.09.01.01

Abstract

This study investigated the causes, consequences and control of student protests, especially the EndSARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) protest. A descriptive survey was adopted for the study. A total of 600 undergraduates, selected by multi-stage sampling, participated in the study. Three research questions were raised and a questionnaire titled Causes, Consequences and Control of Youth Protest Questionnaire (CCCYPQ) was used to collect data. The findings showed that the protest was caused by extra-judicial killings, assaults, harassment, extortion, bad governance, and youth unemployment. In addition, the findings indicated that the consequences of the protest include destruction of lives and property, hacking of the websites of public ministries, departments, agencies and corporate organizations, destruction of public infrastructural facilities, and disruption of academic activities in schools. The various control measures include disbandment of SARS, compensation for victims of police brutality, and provision of skills acquisition programmes and employment opportunities for youths. There were no significant gender differences in the perceived causes, consequences and control of the protest. Based on the findings, it was recommended that dialogue and collaborative decision-making should be employed in controlling student protest.

Highlights

The respondents indicated that the measures for controlling the EndSARS protest include the disbandment of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), provision of compensation for victims of police brutality, provision of skills acquisition programmes and employment opportunities for youths, improved youth participation in governance, provision of good governance for youths, improved training and funding of the police force, dialogue, establishment of panels of inquiry on public complaints relating to SARS, collaborative decision making, and cancellation of the strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)
Based on the findings of the study, one could conclude that the EndSARS protest in Nigeria was caused by extra-judicial killings, assaults, harassment, extortion, bad governance, youth unemployment, loss of jobs and livelihoods during the COVID-10 lockdowns, cybercrime, social media and the strike action of the ASUU
The major findings indicate that the EndSARS protest was caused by various acts of police brutality, while the consequences of the protest include the extra-judicial killing of protesters

Summary

Introduction

The Black Lives Matter movement, Gorge Floyd and anti-lockdown protests were carried out in various nations, such as the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic and other European nations. The South American nations (Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela) experienced widespread protests due to long periods of frustrations, dissatisfaction with the social policies of governments and mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the African setting, common protests included protests related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fees Must Fall protest (2015-2016) and xenophobic protests in South Africa, the Malian spring protests of 2020, and the anti-third-term presidential bid protests in Ivory Coast in the run-up to the presidential election of 31 October 2020. Ghanaians have protested as a result of widespread socio-economic challenges, such as rising inflation, high cost of living, corruption and removal of fuel subsidies on goods and services

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion