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Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to unpack the impact that identity, through echo-chambers on social media platforms, have on the ability of youth groups to mobilize and succeed in carrying out protest movements in Africa. It will focus on the #EndSARS (2020) and #EndBadGovernance (2024) protests in Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

Identity has long been used to weaken the unity of purpose with which groups have sought to hold governments to account. Ruling coalitions have often used the narrative that opposition-backed protests have been attempts to dislodge their ‘turn’ in power, which has often coloured even organic protests through an ethnic or tribal lens.

Nigeria’s protest history, since the return to democracy in 1999, has historically been effective. Examples include the 2011 Occupy Nigeria protests leading to the reinstatement of the fuel subsidy and the 2014 Bring Back Our Girls protests leading to a focus on security that eventually led to the defeat of an incumbent government in the 2015 elections. But recent movements, such as 2020’s #EndSARS movement and the 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests have seen mixed results despite relatively mass support. While both differ in terms of the simplicity of their demands – EndSARS seeking the cessation of a special police unit and EndBadGovernance being vaguer around government policies – the identity of the presidents during these protests appear to have played a role in colouring how they were perceived and effective follow through.

This paper seeks to review how effective or impactful identity is, or has been, in shaping digital-driven protests in Nigeria, how this has affected recent protest outcomes and what this could mean for the future of such protest movements in Nigeria.