Kate Osamor, a member of the United Kingdom parliament joined her colleagues to debate on possible sanctions against the Nigerian government over the problems encountered during the EndSARS protests.
Osamor who kicked against UK-funded training for former operatives of the disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS) which she said went on despite previous indictments of the squad, also called for reconsideration of funding for some Nigerian security agencies she described as “corrupt”.
She noted that the #EndSARS crisis was “regrettably serious”, and also called on the UK government to look beyond sanctions and pay closer attention into how development funding is spent in Nigeria.
Osamor said;
“Today, we need to consider how the government responds to both the movement itself and the violent actions of the Nigerian regime
“We must also take this opportunity to look beyond sanctions into how development funding is spent in Nigeria.
“Instead of funding corrupt security agencies and investing in projects which do not benefit ordinary Nigerians, we need a new focus on poverty relief and anti-corruption programmes.
“At the very moment in which Amnesty International had declared SARS units to have been involved in extra-judicial killings, corruption and torture, the government was using the budget to train and equip those units.”
