There have been protests going on in almost all over the country (except in some northern states) calling for an end to the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS.

There are different categories of protesters; those patriots who want an end to the outfit for believing that this will be bring an end to the human rights abuses papetrated by some members of this group. These are usually very few. There are those who want use the protest to gain, maintain or regain relevance (although this may not be the true intention of this class of people). These category compromises celebrities, the elites, politicians, artists, people of influence, etc. Another category of protesters are those who comprise members of security agencies disguised as protesters to gather intelligence. Another category of protesters are those who either themselves or relatives have suffered at the hand of SARS. The last category comprises those who see the squad as hindrance to their nefarious activities or beneficiaries of of crimes as seen in the case of prostitutes who were seen protesting for the ban of SARS because of their criminal clients.

Whatever category one belongs, one thing is very probable, the Federal Government and the Police authority may not really ban SARS and even if they do, another formation with different nomenclature but with same or similar functions may emerge. The new squad may appear to be different from the banned SARS only for a while but soon after it may be similar or even worse.

Another funny thing is that, most of the former SARS officers may be drafted to man the new squad. Don't forget that banning SARS doesn't mean that the SARS officers are gone, remember police officers have career length of 35yrs. So, it will be a case of same shit different toilets.

If SARS is banned, I guarantee you that we will need another mega protest to end the next squad the will take over from the former SARS and the vicious circle continues on and on.

Some people think that if SARS is banned crime will increase as criminal will carry out their nefarious activities unhindered. This could be true because we have read and heard about how SARS combated major crimes and this shows that it has some merits just like all outfits.

Reforming the entire police should be a goal. SARS is part of the police so if it is banned, does that give us a better policing? If SARS is banned does that reduce police extortion and bribe? If SARS is banned, does that equip our police? How many people know that police officers buy their uniforms, stationaries, fuel for vehicles and other aquateiments(you may argue that these are captured in the budget, but that's just on paper. How much is actually released to the police? Even the little that is released, it hangs at the force headquarters it doesn't get to the lower ladder of zonal, state, area and divisional command)? How many of them were provided with protective gears and sanitizers during the COVID-19 period? If you ever visit a police training facility, barracks and stations you will know that the organization as a whole is a fiasco.

The police is the mirror of the government. The kind of government you have determines the kind of police you will have. You cannot pay a police constable 45k and put a gun in his hands and expect him to act accordingly. You cannot have a police who contributes to his pension and you expect him not to collect bribes to cater for his retirement. You cannot train a police officer in an inhumane environment and expect him to act humanely after passing out. The government provides stationeries in other government offices but doesn't provide same for the police and you expect them not to ask for case file money when investigating a case.

I'm not justifying the behaviour of our police officers, I'm only saying that such behaviors have roots and until we tackle the problem from the root, we will remain where we are or even get worse.

First we should advocate for more funding for the police so that they can perform their functions like their counterparts in other jurisdictions. We are all seeing the dilapidated and moribond structures as well as the tuke-tuke vehicles they use. It's not forbidden for our police to own a fleet of aircrafts for operations.

Second, the laws establishing the force should stress more emphasy on accountability. All these nonsense orders from above should be a thing of the past. Each officer should act within the the ambit of the law and with less discretion and that he should be personally responsible for his deeds without hiding under orders from above.

Welfare of the members of the force should not be left out. Our police is the least paid within the ECOWAS. This is pathetic. Their health, accommodations, pensions, should looked into.

If the above measures are taken, I assure you that our police will be very attractive to Nigerians and people will join the police out passion not just as a job. With this a police officer will act accordingly because he will be scared to loose his LUCRATIVE job and with passion he will discharge his functions cordially and humanely irrespective of which squad he belongs to whether SARS, RRS, IRS, etc.

Thanks. We are not ending SARS.

Hungry paid bmc on the loose