On July 1986, Nigerians awoke to a profound shift in their economy. General Ibrahim Babangida’s military government officially launched the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), designed with IMF and World Bank support to rescue an oil-dependent economy battered by the global price crash of the early 1980s.
At the core of SAP was the Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM), introduced on September 26, 1986. The first auction shocked the nation: the naira plunged from about ₦1.3–₦1.55 per dollar to ₦4.6, as the government allowed the currency to “find its true value” through market forces.
SAP promised reforms, trade liberalization, deregulated exchange rates, reduced subsidies, and privatization, which gathered momentum by 1988–1989. But the social costs were heavy. Inflation in 1986 rose about 14% compared to 1985, modest by later standards, yet a warning sign. By the early 1990s, inflation exceeded 50%, worsened by repeated fuel price hikes.
Protests and Public Discontent
The burden fell hardest on ordinary Nigerians. Workers saw wages eroded by rising prices; families struggled with food, transport, and school fees. University students, long a barometer of dissent, spearheaded the anti-SAP protests of May–June 1989, joined by trade unions and civil groups. Demonstrations swept campuses and cities, signaling that economic reform was rewriting the social contract between state and society.
Crime in the Age of Hardship
Amid hardship, insecurity deepened. In 1986, one name became synonymous with fear: Lawrence Anini. Nicknamed “the law,” Anini and his gang terrorized Bendel State (today Edo and Delta), robbing banks, ambushing police, and humiliating authorities who struggled to catch him. Newspapers chronicled his exploits daily until his arrest in Benin City on December 3, 1986. His trial was swift, and on March 29, 1987, he was executed by firing squad, closing a bloody chapter but leaving an enduring symbol of insecurity in the SAP years.
Vigilantism and the Rise of the Bakassi Boys
By the late 1990s, citizens in the southeast resorted to self-defense. In Aba, Abia State (1998–1999), market traders’ unions created the Bakassi Boys, armed with machetes, charms, and sometimes firearms, to curb robbery and kidnapping. At first, they earned wide praise for reducing crime, but their methods soon became brutal.
By August 2000, Anambra State gave the Bakassi Boys legal recognition, but human rights organizations documented torture, public executions, and abuses. The Bakassi Boys embodied both the desperation of citizens for security and the dangers of outsourcing justice beyond state institutions.
SARS: The State’s Answer
The state’s institutional response came earlier. In 1992, the Nigerian Police Force launched the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) under Commissioner Simeon Danladi Midenda. Small, mobile, and often plain-clothed, SARS quickly earned a reputation for effectiveness and fear among criminals.
Yet, over time, the unit itself became notorious for corruption. Reports of extortion, torture, and extrajudicial killings mounted through the 2000s and 2010s. By 2020, years of public anger boiled over into the #EndSARS protests, a youth-led national movement that forced the Inspector-General of Police to announce the unit’s dissolution on October 11, 2020.
Cultural Resistance: Music and Nollywood
Culture became a battlefield of resistance. In 1989, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti released Beasts of No Nation, condemning military repression, global hypocrisy, and SAP-era suffering. His Afrobeat defiance resonated from Lagos clubs to international stages, carrying the frustrations of Nigerians worldwide.
The 1990s brought another outlet: Nollywood. The seminal Living in Bondage (1992) launched a film industry that often tackled themes of corruption, greed, and supernatural justice. By the early 2000s, vigilante films like Issakaba (2001) dramatized the exploits of the Bakassi Boys, capturing the fears, hopes, and contradictions of a society caught between insecurity and resistance.
The Legacy of Adjustment
The adjustment years left more than economic scars. SAP fractured household security, deepened poverty, and reshaped both crime and policing. It also seeded distrust in state institutions, a sentiment still visible today in debates over inflation, insecurity, and governance.
For many Nigerians, the era of SAP, Anini, the Bakassi Boys, SARS, and Fela is not distant history but the root of contemporary struggles. Its imprint lingers in the price of food, the persistence of insecurity, and the rhythm of protest culture.
References
- Central Bank of Nigeria. Statistical Bulletin, Vol. 27, 2016. Abuja: CBN.
- Human Rights Watch. The Bakassi Boys: The Legitimization of Murder and Torture. May 2002.
