Open AccessState Anti-Robbery Squad operations and restructuring in Nigeria: Semiotics of the #EndSARS protests
Author(s) -
Nnennaya Uchendu Ola
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ikenga journal of business administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2714-4321
pISSN - 2006-4241
DOI - 10.53836/ijia/2021/22/2/005
Subject(s) - semiotics , ideology , centralisation , ethnic group , politics , state (computer science) , sociology , restructuring , political economy , social semiotics , political science , social science , law , epistemology , anthropology , philosophy , algorithm , computer science
End State Anti-Robbery Squad (#EndSARS) protests represent symptoms of systemic issues in Nigeria. Those issues range from ideological differences of the various ethnic nationalities to the constitutional and structural imbalance in the political and economic equation. This paper attempts to put in perspective the implications of the over-centralisation of both political and economic powers. To do this, this research examines the events leading up to the #EndSARS protest, as well as the various signs and symbols emanating from the #EndSARS movement. Semiotics Theory is employed as conceptual framework and methodology to highlight the factors that ail Nigeria at the systemic level. Semioticians engage in a search for deep structures underlying the surface features of phenomena. With Semiotic theory as framework, this paper takes seriously the social conditions that led to the #EndSARS Protests, not neglecting the role of ideologies. The research has the potential to make useful contributions to both academic and socio-political cum economic knowledge for a meaningful national dialogue among contesting ethnic groups in Africa.