Being a Nigerian comes with its perks and ills. One of the perks could be the ability to thrive in other countries because of past experience with lack and an inefficient government, but a major challenge would be the roadblocks that are continuously encountered by those who strive to make headways in the country. Some of which are systematic.
Over the weekend, Twitter Nigeria took up a storm with recent reporting of arrests of Nigerian Techies by law enforcement officers (Police and Special Anti-Robbery Squad – SARS) who are supposed to protect the citizens. Unfortunately, this would not be the first of its kind as earlier this year youths were arrested for carrying a laptop, using a high-end phone like iPhone or simply because of the way they were dressed. As more hardworking Nigerians dream of switching career paths to tech because of its versatility, flexibility and high remuneration, the reality of being the victim of an inefficient government becomes more lucid than ever.
Over the weekend, a software developer – Akinmolayan Oluwatoni (@toniastro) shared his experience with SARS on twitter. He mentioned being stopped by police on his way home and after seeing his laptop, smartphone and chargers declared him a Yahoo boy and proceeded to demand a ₦1 million bribe after several beatings. Eventually, he was released after dropping ₦15,000, half the amount in his account.  Toni is not the only developer to make a public outcry, Dada Benjamin (@DadaBen_) also mentioned being stopped by Policemen about 10 times and lives with the constant fear of having one of his colleagues dead for standing for his rights. Today, his heart leaps in fear of having a police vehicle behind his ride.
Speaking on these happenings, Bosun Tijani of CcHub said
“Our ask is simple. Stop arresting our colleagues. This is an ongoing concern for Nigeria’s tech community. A talent problem already exists in our sector, yet police, particularly SARS’s harassment, accentuates the talent drain in our industry.”
-Bosun Tijani
Explaining further, he said
“We are social innovators, entrepreneurs, engineers and business leaders who work in Nigeria’s technology and innovation sector. Over the last few decades, we have collectively helped to build an innovative, highly respected tech industry that has elevated Nigeria on the global stage and demonstrated that young Nigerians can do great things…The bedrock of our industry is Nigeria’s young and ambitious technology talent. They drive our operations, build our products, serve our customers and solve difficult problems for society every day. Without this talent, our industry would not exist.”
Segun Awosanya (@segalink), a human rights advocate, and several tech founders – Bosun Tijani of CC hub, Jason Njoko of IROKO took up the matter and called on the Police for a refund of the money extorted from Toni while other cases are being reviewed. Currently, a fundraising effort through Flutterwave was started in order to combat the increasing attacks against techies in Nigeria.
The growing questions on my mind are: How long would it take before we learn not to destroy ourselves? What would it take to create reform of the law enforcement agencies? How much would be too much before we understand that attacking each other would not help in maintaining unity and progress as a nation?
Click on the Share button in this article to update your friends on recent happenings in the Nigerian tech space. Do drop a comment on this post and let me know what you think about the assaults and if the fundraising effort will be effective enough to stop this anomaly.
Featured Image Source: Wee Tracker
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