Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people reported to have been killed by police and military personnel during the recent End Sars protests in Nigeria.

The UK Government is deeply concerned by violence during protests in Lagos and other major cities in Nigeria, which tragically claimed lives. Our thoughts are with the families of all those affected. Reports of the numbers killed in Lagos on 20 October vary and we have not been able to verify their accuracy.

The Foreign Secretary issued a statement on 21 October calling for an end to the violence and for the Nigerian Government to urgently investigate reports of brutality by its security forces and hold those responsible to account. I tweeted on 21 October, encouraging the Nigerian authorities to restore peace and address concerns over brutality towards civilians. I reiterated these messages when I spoke to Foreign Minister Onyeama on 23 October. The British High Commissioner in Abuja has also raised the protests, including incidents in Lagos, with representatives of the Nigerian Government and will continue to do so. We welcome the establishment of judicial panels of inquiry to investigate alleged incidents of brutality by the security services. It is vital these panels receive full police and military cooperation. They must investigate all incidents, including those in Lagos, fully. I shared these messages in a tweet on 29 October.