The Nigeria EndSars protests is more than a week now and the Nigeria government are considering taking some drastic steps to lower the voices of the protesters.
They have yielded to the calls of disbanding Sars but went ahead to unveil another outfit called SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) which is more or less like the SARS. This has further infuriated the Nigerian youths who intensified their efforts that SWAT mustn’t see the light of the day.
The Nigeria government have used different dark tactics such as pouring water on the peaceful protesters and even renting armed thugs to attack the peaceful protesters. All this seem not to have any effect on the protesters who are determined to end police brutality in Nigeria.
The government is now toying with the idea of shutting the internet in Nigeria or preventing access to Social Media especially Twitter where EndSARS and SARSMUSTEND have held the number 1 spot worldwide for days. Many foreign celebrities such as Twitter founder Jack, Marcus Rashford, Mesut Ozil, Piers Morgan, Kanye West, Rio Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Dej Loaf, Chance the Rapper, Quavo, and Pdiddy have all supported the EndSARS protest.
The Nigerian government believe shutting down the internet will prevent the spread of key facts and also information of protest locations nationwide.
The history of the Arab Springs demonstration in 2011 which led to revolutions in those countries is one the Nigerian government is fearing and that’s why they want to restrict access to the internet. Life without internet in 2020 is not different from living inside a cave. This means the only way to social media will be calling your friend abroad and give them your social media login details to post on your behalf.
Shutting the internet will require a letter from the NSA (National Security Adviser) office Babagana Monguno and direct the NCC (Nigeria Communications Commission) to direct all its licensees to shut down their internet. This mean the likes of MTN, Airtel, Spectranet, Glo, Etisalat and the rest will disconnect their servers from data exchange points. This will likely cripple the economy as many businesses will die and digital banking will collapse which is a backbone of the country presently.
The alternative will be for the ISPs to block access to social media sites. You will not be able to access social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even Nigeria owned forum site Nairaland.
This post will show you what to do in the eventuality of any of the 2 scenarios above.
To access blocked sites
- Install TOR browser. Tor browser allow you to access blocked websites and surf the web anonymously.
- Download trusted VPN (Virtual Private Network) to access blocked websites and apps. You can download VPNs like Psiphon, Lantern, Tunnelbear. They are available on Android, iOS, and also on Windows operating system and MAC. They are also available as browser extension.
- Download Location changer to mock a geographical location other than Nigeria.
- Open the VPN and mock a location before accessing the blocked website. Voila you are in.
If the internet is shut down
- We hope it doesn’t result to this but if it does, you can enable sms updates on your social media accounts
- You can download Bridgefy to connect to people around you. Bridgefy uses Bluetooth connection to broadcast messages to people around you.
Get prepared for internet shutdown in Nigeria or blocked access to some websites by following our guide and also sharing with your friends.
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