What Next For Nigeria After #EndSARS Protests?

In October, Nigeria witnessed a historic protest led by youths clamoring for the total disbandment of a special unit of the police force known as SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad). SARS was initiated to curb crime particularly robbery in Nigeria in the 90s. However, the unit became known as a terror squad notorious for violating the rights of innocent citizens especially youths and women through extrajudicial killings, rape, extortion, kidnapping, intimidation, and even robbery.

 

 

The #EndSARS hashtag which trended worldwide for weeks had the support of international lawmakers, celebrities, and sportspeople including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Kanye West,  Rihanna, Drake, Trey Songs, Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Tammy Abraham, Antonio Rudiger, and a host of others. 

 

 

For the first time in Nigerian history, Nigerian celebrities from the entertainment and sports industry all over the world including Falz, Runtown, DJ Switch,  Wizkid, Davido, John Boyega, Jude Ighalo, John Ogu, and a host of others, actively participated in the protest to #ENDSARS and end police brutality.

 

The Nigerian government responded by disbanding SARS and immediately creating SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics). This did not go down well with the protesters who insisted it was just a change of name and not a full reformation of the unit. They backed up their claims with proof that SARS has been disbanded three times in the last 3 years but they only came back worse.

 

 

 

The leaderless protest which went on peacefully for almost three weeks grew to include other issues affecting youths such as bad governance, injustice, and impunity. 

 

 

 

As one voice, the youths all over Nigeria implored the Nigerian government to take real action to end police brutality, bad governance, increasing poverty, injustice, and impunity.

 

Despite the attacks on peaceful protesters by hoodlums alleged to be sponsored by the government to disrupt the protests, protests continued all over Nigeria.

 

 

 

 

On October 20th, peaceful and unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate, Lagos, were allegedly attacked and shot at by security forces leading to the death of some protesters. Many others were injured and some maimed in the process. Hoodlums took advantage of the chaos to unleash violence and looting in the State in subsequent days. 

 

 

Judicial panels of inquiry have been set up in multiple states in Nigeria to investigate cases of police brutality and possibly compensate families. However, it remains to be seen if the government will keep its word.

 

 

Since the protests died down, #EndSARS protesters have been witch-hunted by the government alleging sponsored terrorism. Cases of frozen bank accounts,  arrest from homes, and seizure of passports to stop traveling, have been trending on social media. These acts are quite contradictory to the promises made by the Nigerian government to listen to the cry of the youths. 

 

 

It is a month after the unfortunate incident at Lekki and an investigative report by CNN has confirmed the attack on peaceful protesters at Lekki tollgate. Sadly though, no one has been persecuted yet for this attack. 

 

The question now is what next for Nigeria after the #EndSARS protests? 

Our Response To COVID-19 in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Adamawa State situated in the North-East region, has been facing a humanitarian crisis caused by violent attacks from Boko Haram, the dreaded Islamist militant group for more than 8 years. The emergence of COVID-19 has worsened the already bad situation. More women, children and the elderly presently live in extreme poverty, and those who had been able to escape poverty have seen their resources dwindle in recent times. 

 

Poor communities have become more vulnerable to the issues of livelihood, hunger, housing and shelter. COVID-19 has had devastating effects on the health and economic situation of vulnerable women and children. Also, the scarcity of water in this region has made it practically impossible to maintain hygiene. 

The Save Our Needy team reached to the poorest households which have women as the breadwinners in Yola-South, Adamawa State, to provide them with care and hygiene packages consisting of food items, bottled water, menstrual pads, sanitizers, bath soaps, washing detergents and toilet rolls. We also launched an awareness campaign to raise more awareness on the prevention of COVID-19 in order to reduce the rate of infections in the communities.

Marvella Odili Wins "1000 Entrepreneurs Challenge "

We are proud to announce our Founder/CEO, Marvella Odili, as one of the winners of the "1000 Entrepreneurs Challenge" for her project, "Connecting Marginalized Women To Technology and Development."

Marvella Odili 

Over the years, Marvella has economically empowered thousands of marginalized women and youths through skills-building; launched projects for the education of thousands of vulnerable children particularly girls; and advanced the rights of women and girls, through her non-profit organization,  Save Our Needy Organisation. 

As a part of the winning package, all winners were invited to the Africa-France Summit 2020 which was due to start on June 4, 2020 in Bordeaux, France. However, due to the present circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic, all scheduled travels have been cancelled. 

All the winners who were selected from 53 countries in Africa, will have the opportunity to gain extensive knowledge from experts, network, gain visibility for their work and public and private funding from French and African partners of Digital Africa. 

See list of full winners here:

https://digital-africa.co/en/winners-1000/😀🥳

African Children Are The Future of Africa

As we celebrate the International Day of the African Child today, we reflect on the many issues affecting the African child including violence, poverty, illiteracy, neglect, and abuse. No child can thrive in an environment where there is a lack of love, peace and happiness. It is our collective responsibility to provide an enabling environment that is peaceful, vibrant, and healthy for ALL children irrespective of social background, ethnicity, physical ability, and religion to reach their full potential.
 

The African child is the future of Africa. We have to protect their rights. 

Happy International Day of the African Child!

END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN NIGERIA

In the last few years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the rate of violence against women and girls in Nigeria. The inaction of the government in prosecuting offenders has been alarming to say the least. 

Save Our Needy joined other non-profit and civil rights organizations to demand that the government takes action to prevent violence against women and girls, and to ensure that victims get justice. Respecting the WHO recommendations on the prevention of COVID-19 by wearing masks and practising social distancing, we took to the streets of Lagos and Abuja to demand a State of Emergency on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Nigeria. In Lagos, we marched peacefully to the Lagos House of Assembly to protest against sexual violence. 

We urge parents to raise boys who will genuinely love and respect girls because boys grow up to become men. 

Uwaila Omozuwa, Tina Ezekwe, Azeezat Shomuyiwa, Jennifer and Favor (an orphan raped and beaten to paralysis in Ogun State) are some of the celebrated cases of rape and violence against women and girls that we have witnessed in 2020. 

CNN carried a report on the story:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/09/africa/nigeria-women-rape-protests/index.html

#endviolence #saynotorape #enddomesticviolence #stoprapingwomen #stoprapinggirls

#stateofemergencyGBV #silenceisnotconsent #nomeansno #ItsTimeForAction 

Celebrating ALL women on Women's Day

International Women's Day, celebrated on the 8^th of March, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women - while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender equality. This year's theme is Each For Equal. The IWD 2020 campaign theme is drawn from a notion of 'Collective Individualism.'

An equal world is an enabled world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.

Women's equality can't wait. It's going to take everyone to think and be inclusive - all the time, everywhere so take action NOW.

Let's all be #EachforEqual.

#IWD2020