The Federal Government says 11 out of 28 states have submitted their respective final reports of Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the 2020 EndSARS protest and its aftermaths.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at a media briefing on the first anniversary of the EndSARS protest and the purported Lekki Toll Gate massacre.
Mohammed said the states which had submitted the report to the National Economic Council (NEC) were Abia, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, and Rivers.
NEC is the nation’s highest economic decision making body presides over by the Vice President with all the state governors and selected Ministers in attendance.
The judicial panels set up by the states were to make inquiry into allegations of human rights violations against members of Nigeria Police Force and other Security Agencies.
The minister said while the governors of other states had indicated that their reports would be submitted soon, modalities had been established for the settlement of all monetary compensations awarded by the panels.
“Already, as resolved by NEC, a number of states have set up Victims Compensation Funds, from which several victims have already received payments of sums awarded to them by the panels.
“Council directed governors to immediately forward copies of final reports of the panels to their Attorneys-General for prompt arraignment and prosecution of all indicted persons.
“Where incidents in the reports relate to matters of discipline, in addition to prosecution,
“NEC urged the Nigeria Police Force to take disciplinary action on the affected officers in line with the provisions of the Police Act 2020,” he said.
The minister said NEC also called on the leadership of the security agencies to ensure that persons recruited into arms-bearing security agencies undergo psychiatric evaluations and drug tests before enlistment and periodically after enlistment.
He said the step would ensure that the personnel are psychologically fit to carry live weapons and to identify behavioural tendencies that may require psycho-social interventions.
The minister said NEC recommended sustained improved funding and budgetary allocation to the Nigeria Police Force and other securities agencies,
He said the Council also recommended lifting of the ban on recruitment of police officers, and urged the Federal Government to give priority to the general welfare of police officers and personnel of other security agencies.
Mohammed said NEC also recommended the the Police and other security agencies should deploy cutting-edge technology in the fight against crimes.
Meanwhile, insurance companies will eventually pay about N20 billion in compensations to losses recorded at the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday, Chairman of the Nigeria Insurance Association (NIA), Mr Ganiyu Musa, said the companies had paid claims totalling N9 billion already.
NIA said in a report issued on Monday that the insurance companies settled claims on 718 cases of vandalism, 93 cases of looting, 113 cases of theft, and 136 cases of loss of cash.
The report also stated that 99 claims were settled on malicious damage; eight on business interruptions, 455 on burglary and 912 cases were settled on fire and burnt sites in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest.
“Insurance companies have paid more than N9 billion so far as at the last count, but this is certainly not all as we still have quite a lot of claims that are going through processes of documentation.
“These claims are yet to be settled because the claimants have not provided sufficient documentation to support their claims,’’ Musa said.
He stressed that by the time claimants submit all the necessary documentation, the industry would be settling claims of about N20 billion.
Musa, managing director of one of the insurance companies, said estimated economic loss to the protest was more than N200 billion but not all the losses were insured.
He stated that all insurance companies in the NIA had risen to the challenge to settle all valid claims and assured that all outstanding valid claims of the #EndSARS protests would be paid.
The NIA chairman noted that the #EndSARS incident was an eye opener to all Nigerians that bad things happen to good people and the unexpected happens once in a while; hence the need for insurance.
“Nobody ever thought that something like the #EndSARS protest would happen and resulting in so much economic damage.
“The losses were unexpected, but that is the reason why insurance exists.
“Those who had valid insurance cover on their property will now understand the value of insurance as an instrument to restore you in case the unexpected happens,’’ Musa stressed.
According to him, if all the lives and properties damaged were insured, the insurance companies would have been able to pay all the claims.
Musa explained that this would have been so, because premiums would have been paid and the insurance companies would have accumulated sufficient reserve funds over time to be able to pay the claims.
The NIA scribe charged governments at all levels to ensure that all their assets, physical and human, are properly covered by relevant insurances.
Musa urged government to also provide an enabling environment for insurance business to thrive.
To mark the first year anniversary of the EndSARS protest, hundreds of youths took to major streets in Lagos, Benin and others.
The youth converged at the popular Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos. Some of them were arrested. They were later released.
Youths were also seen at Oba Ovonramwen Square, popularly called Ring Road, in Benin with placards bearing various inscriptions demanding for automatic employment for the victims of the protest in the state.
They also demanded for the immediate implementation of the report of the judicial panel that was setup by the state government, requesting that all those still in detention as a result of the 2020 protest should be released unconditionally.
Security personnel drawn from the Nigerian Police, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and members of local vigilante were on ground to ensure peace.
Members of the Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV) were also at hand to control traffic, while the peaceful march lasted.
It was a pitiable sight when two of the victims, a fashion designer, Miracle Ailenokhoriah who has been bedridden as a result of gunshot to his right thigh, and Stephen Asekhame whose left leg was amputated as a result of gunshot from soldiers in Auchi during the protest joined other protesters.
Asekhame, who is from Uhonmora, Owan West Local Government Area of Edo, said he was amputated after he was hit by a bullet during the protest.
“During the protest last year on the 19th of October 2020, we in Auchi decided to hold our own peaceful protest, on that day and during the protest, soldiers ran into us and I was hit by a bullet that led to the amputation of my left leg.
“I was a student then but now I am a graduate and I am supposed to go for service next Sunday.
“I presented my case before the panel through my lawyer, but till now, we have not heard anything from the panel,” he said.
On his part, Ailenokhoriah, who was accompanied by his mother, said they were protesting at the Market Square in Ekpoma when a policemen, he identified as Sgt. Ade, shot him.
According to him, “himself (Ade) and other policemen with him started beating me and they said if I die, I will be buried behind the police station.
“I was later sent to the hospital where I spent three months and now we have resorted to traditional treatment, but since then, I have not been able to stand up.”
Corroborating his narration, his mother, Betty Odiagbe, said that they also sent a petition and appeared before the panel but nothing had come out of it.
She lamented that she had spent all her resources trying to take care of her son and that had made it impossible for her to pay the school fees of her other children.
One of the organisers of the anniversary rally, Kola Edokpayi, said: “I want the state government to implement the recommendations of the panel.
“The federal government should make 20th of October every year, as a public holiday to commemorate the EndSARS protest and give respect to the fallen heroes.
“These ones here who have been injured should be given automatic employment”, he added.
