#EndBadGovernance Movement to Hold One-Year Anniversary Symposium in Lagos
Organisers of the #EndBadGovernance protest movement have announced plans to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the nationwide demonstrations that rocked Nigeria in August 2024.
The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), a key driver of the movement, revealed in a statement on Tuesday that a public symposium will be held on Saturday, August 9, 2025, at the International Press Center, Ogba, Lagos.
According to YRC’s National Secretary, Francis Nwapa, the event will serve both as a commemoration of the historic protests and a forum to strategize on the way forward in confronting bad governance in Nigeria.
“In August 2024, Nigerians stood side by side to demand an end to bad governance and a total reversal of all anti-people policies under the Tinubu regime,” Nwapa said.
He condemned the government’s reaction to the protests, describing it as a violent crackdown. “The regime responded with brute force killing over 2,000 Nigerians, arresting and detaining protesters including minors, charging some with treason, and deploying both state and non-state actors to suppress dissent,” he alleged.
Nwapa also cited other intimidation tactics such as the use of traditional sacrifices to scare off protesters in Lagos, court injunctions to restrict demonstrations, and the weaponisation of social media to incite ethnic division.
Despite this, he praised the courage and resilience of the protesters: “Against all these, we were resolute and defiant.”
The upcoming symposium will focus on what YRC calls the “urgent need to dismantle the despotic regime” and challenge the wider capitalist structure it says fuels systemic governance failures in Nigeria.
“As we mark one year of the #EndBadGovernance protest, we invite the public to join us this Saturday at the International Press Center for a critical conversation on how to build sustained resistance against oppression and failed leadership,” the statement read.
The #EndBadGovernance protests, which erupted in August 2024, were ignited by rising inflation, fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation, unemployment, and growing authoritarianism under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Although sparked by economic grievances, the protests quickly grew into a broader uprising against political impunity, corruption, and state violence. Unlike the 2020 #EndSARS movement, which focused on police brutality, #EndBadGovernance directly challenged the government’s policies and legitimacy.
The demonstrations drew widespread condemnation of the government’s response from human rights groups both within and outside Nigeria.
Saturday’s symposium is expected to gather activists, students, labour leaders, and members of civil society to reflect on the movement’s impact and chart the way forward.
