For many Nigerians, the social crisis that has rocked the Nigerian states for the past one week is said to be the aftermath of the #End SARS protests. These protests were witnessed in many states of the federation with thousands of youths agitating for an end to police brutality.
The event took another dimension a week after the start of the #EndSARS campaign with hoodlums hijacking the protests to unleash mayhem on innocent Nigerians. With particular emphasis on the social tension in Lagos State, the unrelenting violence forced the State Governor, BABAJIDE Sanwo-Olu, to declare a 24-hour curfew on Tuesday the 20th of October effective from 4 pm.
To relieve Lagosians from the hardships of movement, the Lagos State Governor extended the commencement of the curfew to 9 pm. The #EndSARS protest took a negative swing when men allegedly claimed to be officers of the Nigerian Army stormed the Lekki Toll Plaza to disperse unarmed protesters. Gunshots were heard and video footages showed the event to be a bloody one. Although the number of casualties is yet to be confirmed as the government is still investigating the matter.
The storming wave continued the following day when some miscreants who defied the 24-hour curfew stormed the Oyingbo Terminus at Yaba at about 8:30 a.m, to burn down the terminus, seeing to the destructions of new BRT buses yet to be deployed to routes spanning over 130 in number. Those BRT buses were purchased by the government to ease the hardships of transportation witnessed by Lagosians.
Based on verifiable facts, public and private properties running into trillions of naira were lost to these arsonists. There is no doubt that Lagos State is currently bleeding from the wounds of its knocked down properties.
To face reality as concerned citizens, the destruction of the BRT buses and many other individuals and private businesses have just compounded the hardships faced by Lagosians. Although there is no justification for the destruction of public properties. The Big Question is; “Who will bear the loss?”
There is no doubt that when public properties are jeopardized, the ripple effects will wreck great havoc on all categories of people including the arsonists themselves. It is so unfortunate that these miscreants were not forward-looking to see the negative effects of their actions.
The negative effects of the BRT destructions will be felt on individual, private, and corporate entities, leading to the skyrocketing prices of goods and services, decrease in state productivity, hardship in moving people and goods from one place to another, and increased traffic in the city.
Looking at the wave of things, the government is still on the path of restoring normalcy to the state functions and the consideration of the replacement of the destroyed buses seems not to be coming anytime soon.
With the way the events have to unfold, one must confess that the negativity attributed to the #EndSARS protests has been significant in the direst sense. It is high time we left sentiments aside and faced the business of the day. This is the time to bring all hands on deck and deploy strategic views devoid of hysterics to develop path-breaking policies that promise rich dividends to the Lagos economy and Nigeria at large.
By Asunmogejo Yusuf Olawale, Lagos
