CONFLICT ANALYSIS OF END-SARS CRISIS: INSIGHTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

In 2020, apart from covid-19 pandemic, the End-SARS protests and disturbances ranked as probably the most consequential crisis among other crises in Nigeria. The protestation, though well set out, was seemingly infiltrated by hoodlums who turned it into a national pain and debt. The protests epitomised Nigerian youths’ resentment and frustration over police (SARS) brutality, extra-judicial killings and other forms of maltreatment against Nigerians, which have persisted for many years in Nigeria. This paper, essentially, reconnoitered the pre/post conflict intricacies of the End-SARS protests/crisis for critical insights and implications on socio-economic development of Nigeria in the face of devastating security, economic and political challenges. It engaged the documentary method of research, relied on Ralf Dahrendorf’s conflict theory and dual tools of conflict analysis for the investigation; and revealed Nigerian youths and Nigeria Police as, characteristically, the primary stakeholders in the conflict. It affirmed that the youths constitute a galactic force with mobility for a reoccurrence of such demonstration if its causal issues are not properly addressed by the government. It recommended measures that include, principally, the need for government to perform a major overhaul (reformation) of the Nigeria Police with effective monitoring of its operations nationwide from recruitment to retirement of officers and men.