What overhauling SARS means for Nigerian millennials

Nigeria's Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo might as well have become Nigeria’s President because his approval ratings have just skyrocketed — not bad for the 2019 elections.

After a couple of years of online protests, the Federal Government finally made a long overdue announcement that the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police Force will be overhauled.

The operatives of SARS have been alleged to extort, illegally detain and physically assault Nigerians especially millennials.

ALSO READ: Nigerians react to overhauling of SARS

SARS stole our freedom

At the height of SARS’ fascist powers, you couldn't carry a laptop without a receipt. Men and women with dreadlocks were perceived to be criminals by these security operatives who brandish their AK-47s with little or no care. If you have tattoos, SARS operatives are likely to arrest you on the charge of being a cultist.

It doesn't stop here. A 20-something Nigerian driving a good car is likely to be harassed by SARS. Around 2009, if a Yahoo Messenger application pops up during cursory search through your phone, the cargo bed of a Hilux van will be your apartment.

We caved to their anarchist rule for fear of being robbed of our freedom of movement. Our freedom to express in multiple ways were stolen, all to generate sufficient reasons for collecting bribe.

Most people chose to pay bribes when faced with the unsavoury prospects of a Nigerian jail cell and its many inhumane conditions.

While the many scourges of cultism, Internet fraud and hooliganism were also infamously rife during the height of SARS’ run, the problems were being exploited for financial gains.

With SARS gone, could we finally be free?

On the face of it, we are getting our freedom back. We can now wear what we want, dress a little more liberally without fears of being threatened with the four corners of a jail cell.

It also means men can use studs, use jewelries and women can dress like modern women, but the reality is that while the constraints might not be as tense, the default setting of our society to judge in appearance will forever create constraints.

In our current tide, even grooming your beard or for women, cutting your hair and changing the shade might attract swift rebuke from Generation Xers — our parents.

Some of the extreme fashion choices might be better used, but they might never be the reality of our generation for fear of being judged.

Nonetheless, we can definitely drive our cars, carry our laptops, and chat with our foreign pen pals without being deemed an Internet fraudster.

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Girls can also experiment with their looks without being treated with condescension or being abused.

One thing this writer is actually happy about is that he can wear short shorts and sleeveless tops in Mainland, Lagos.

ALSO READ: Why does our culture judge on appearance?

Will we ever be free from judgement?

The truth is, probably not. We can however hope for better days and the moment our society evolves into full liberalism, not just ‘wokeness’.

Of course, one problem remains whether the SARS nightmare is actually over as it could all be political propaganda to improve approval ratings for Buhari-Osinbajo for the 2019 general elections. The system might only birth the same SARS demon under a new name.

The Inspector-General of the Nigerian Police Force, Ibrahim Idris, only announced a restructuringof SARS, not outright cancellation of their operations under a new Commissioner of Police to head the new body, Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) nationwide. In the end, it all seems like face-value.

After all, all the toxic people who made up SARS have not been fired. SARS isn't just a name, it is the people behind it.

Until there is clarity on the existence or extinction of SARS, we cannot celebrate yet. Our freedom is under lock and key till we definitively know that SARS has become forgotten history, beside dinousaurs.