The Special Anti-Robbery Squad was established in 1992 to combat a sharp increase in armed robberies and kidnappings. Initially, the 15 officers assigned to this unit operated undercover and didn’t wear uniforms.

As Nigeria transitioned to a broadly cashless society, it became less common for the wealthy to store significant amounts of cash at home, coupled with some of SARS’ initial successes, this led to a decline in armed robberies.

In 2009, the squad was significantly expanded with an extended remit to tackle growing problems of fraud and cultism at Nigerian universities. From this point, stories began to emerge about abuses of power, extortion and profiling of young people.

In 2017, Segun Awosanya first started an online campaign to #ENDSARS. In response, President Buhari announced a total overhaul of the unit and drafted him into the panel overseeing this process.

Ostensibly this mean new measures and complaints procedures to ensure effective oversight and a limiting of their remit once again to armed robberies and kidnappings. There remained much confusion about the scope of FSARS activities as they continued to profile young Nigerians.

Things such as possession of a laptops, iphones or wearing dreadlocks are taken as evidence of involvement in illegal activities. Part of this confusion to the blurring of the role of Sars and the EFCC – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

A pattern of destructive operations became clear online in online accounts – setting up checkpoints with the sole purpose of forcing people to pay bribes, arresting people and driving them to atm machines, opening fire in crowded places such as markets,

murders, kidnappings, rapes, the list is endless. The force pretty much operate as an armed street gang. Still, as of 2018 when I was last in Nigeria, widespread mobilization against SARS was still seen as a pipe dream.

This year, as the #BlackLivesMatter movement took centre stage again, I noticed Nigerians were connecting the question of police brutality to their daily experiences at the hands of SARS. I think the struggles and wins of BLM have potentially been an inspiration here.

That’s not the full story. This speaks to a deep generational divide. The Buhari presidency has been marked by an unemployment crisis for Nigeria’s young population (over 60% of the population is below 30) and for those who can find jobs, the minimum wage is still N30,000 (£60).

The president has taken to blaming young people, accusing them of wanting to “do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, education free”. This speaks to a government arrogance – in an oil producing nation with immense wealth, as public services deteriorate rapidly, -

the attitude of Nigeria’s ostensibly “centre-left” party is that the government owes Nigerians nothing. All the while, with the help of foreign banks and governments, the wealth of the country continues to be syphoned off through staggering, brazen corruption.

This, coupled with the deep resignation felt by older Nigerians and their fear of young Nigerians adopting western attitudes and cultures, has produced an environment in which responsibility for the ills of Nigerian society are placed at the door of the young.

They are blamed for the sheer lack of opportunities available to them, for the repression they experience, and punished where they are able to find ways to thrive despite these miserable conditions.

Of course, those on the streets are already drawing these connections, they know better than I do that SARS is just a symptom of the same deeply broken society which, through the wanton accumulation of wealth by a few, left them to fend for themselves.

Despite these immense obstacles young Nigerians have still thrived making huge contributions globally in culture and tech for example. Those innovations in tech and culture have been significant in internationalising and amplifying the movement.

There’s a lot to unpack, for example, in the role of #TwitterNG alongside Black Twitter and the special place that Nigeria has garnered in the hearts of high profile musicians around the world. But they should never have to face these obstacles in the first place.

That’s a lot to process but nowhere near the full story, I’ll drop links (though it goes without saying that I don’t agree with everything in them)

From Seun Kuti, one of Fela's sons