Six years after thousands of young Nigerians took to the streets demanding an end to police brutality, the movement’s legacy is dividing the generation that built it.
Some emerged from the protests more committed to electoral politics and activism.
Others stepped back in fear or disillusionment, and some began looking for a future outside Nigeria altogether.
In October 2020, protests that began as a campaign against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, quickly widened into an expression of frustration with unemployment, insecurity, poor governance, economic hardship and exclusion from political decision-making.
For a generation often described as politically disengaged, #EndSARS became a moment of awakening.
The moment a generation found its voice
Before the protests, Nigerian youth were frequently characterised by low participation in formal politics. Young people were encouraged to vote, but many remained distant from political parties and institutions.
The protests disrupted that narrative. Through social media and physical mobilisation, young Nigerians organised outside traditional political structures, raising funds, coordinating medical assistance, sharing information and building networks that extended beyond the country’s borders.
For many participants, the experience changed their understanding of citizenship. They were no longer watching Nigerian politics from the sidelines but taking part in it.
In a 2025 study of 400 respondents, political scientist Solomon Temitope Omotayo examined the relationship between the EndSARS protests and youth political participation.
His research found a statistically significant positive relationship between participation in the protests and subsequent political engagement, with more than half of respondents reporting increased engagement with elections and governance afterwards.
Omotayo’s findings suggest that, for many young Nigerians, #EndSARS became more than a protest against police brutality. It became an entry point into political consciousness.
A more recent study by Toyin Segun Onayinka, Omolola Oluwasola and Obasanjo Joseph Oyedele takes the argument further.
Their 2026 research examines EndSARS and the later “Obidient” movement as forms of mediated political activism, and found significant relationships between social media activism and young people’s intentions to vote and to contest for political office.
Greater political mobilization does not guarantee political change
Greater political mobilisation did not automatically translate into political power.
The activism examined in the study did not alter the outcome of the 2023 presidential election. A movement can change how a generation understands politics even when it does not immediately change who holds power or how political institutions operate.
The violence surrounding the demonstrations, particularly the events at the 2020 Lekki shooting, became a defining memory for many participants.
Many young Nigerians believed protesting was a legitimate way to demand change in a democracy, but their experience during and after #EndSARS made them realise that using that right could carry serious personal consequences.
Research by Khadijah Sanusi Gumbi and Yahaya T. Baba found evidence of political trust deficits surrounding the #EndSARS protests, particularly around government accountability, transparency and police conduct.
Olatunde Olayinka Ayinde, Oluwasemiloore Peace Atere, Ugonna Ibeawuchi and their colleagues also found elevated levels of psychological distress, depression, anxiety and PTSD among protesters compared with non-protesters.
For some, it became a reason to stay engaged through organising, voting or considering a run for office.
Others became disillusioned. Disappointment, uncertainty and frustration led some to step back from politics, while others began to consider a different response: leaving Nigeria altogether.
From protest to “Japa”
The years following #EndSARS also coincided with the growing prominence of “Japa,” a Yoruba expression meaning to run or flee that has become widely associated with leaving Nigeria, particularly among young people seeking better opportunities elsewhere.
It would be too simplistic to say that #EndSARS caused Nigerian youth to migrate. Migration decisions are shaped by many factors: unemployment, inflation, insecurity, education, poor infrastructure, limited opportunities and the desire for a better quality of life.
But the experience of #EndSARS can form part of the larger story of how some young Nigerians came to view their future.
Anthropologist Jing Jing Liu, in her research on the Japa phenomenon, interviewed Nigerian youths about their experiences of migration.
Her work suggests that leaving Nigeria is not always understood simply as an economic calculation; for some people, migration is described in terms of escape and survival.
In her 2024 study, “Middle-class youth fleeing Nigeria: rethinking African survival migration through the Japa phenomenon,” Liu interviewed 21 Nigerian youths aged 20 to 35 and examined the urgency surrounding their decisions to leave.
Her research shows that economic deterioration, prolonged uncertainty and frustration with Nigeria’s trajectory can create a feeling that leaving is necessary rather than optional.
In another piece, “Japa, or to flee or to run: Nigerian youth and the urgency of departure,” Liu explores the meaning behind the language itself.
The use of “Japa” captures something stronger than simply moving from one country to another; it can express an urgency to escape circumstances that young people feel they can no longer tolerate.
Other researchers, Faith Adeyanju, Bukola Alao, Oyedamade Opakunbi and Toluwalase Ajibade, similarly examined “Japa” as a survival strategy. Their research identifies unemployment, insecurity, unfulfilled aspirations and weak economic development among the factors pushing Nigerian youths toward migration.
These studies demonstrate why young Nigerians leave. They do not establish that #EndSARS directly caused their migration.
One young person may have emerged from the protests thinking, “I have to become more involved in politics.”
Another may have concluded, “I cannot build my future here.” And some did both: leaving Nigeria while continuing to engage with its politics from abroad.
That complicates the idea that migration necessarily means political disengagement. A Nigerian can leave the country without leaving the conversation.
Six years on, #EndSARS remains more than a protest remembered for what happened in 2020. It changed how many young Nigerians understood citizenship, collective action and their relationship with power.
While it did not resolve the problems that brought people to the streets, it left behind a generation more willing to question, organise and demand accountability.
Source: Global Voices
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