NIGERIA ELITEs
A terrible example of a wealth story — bizarre, awful, and everything #black: Yes, we said it!
There is this thing that @Seun Kuti says about the Nigerian elite class.
The Nigeria elite class feel threatened by the ability of the middle class to live comfortably.
- They feel threatened by the middle class getting more affluent.
- They feel threatened by the poor getting rich.
That is why you see that the Nigerian elite would instead prefer to give 50k — 50k or give out bags of rice to the poor rather than make schools very conducive and accessible so that those people can empower themselves and become something by themselves.
That is also why someone like a Governor will prefer to “pack’ people he pays 100k per month for doing nothing rather than creating impact projects and jobs in the state that will employ and empower.
This point to one truth: The Nigeria elite feels threatened and can not help but always react to oppress and oppress.
Take a look at Water supply.
The then Nigeria elites ensured that water wasn’t running in the country, so the only way to get clean water is by digging your borehole. This means you have to go the extra mile to provide water for yourself. The extra mile is made almost impossible given economic opportunities.
The Nigeria elite thrives on the fact that before you are able to get water by yourself it means you need to have maybe 500k to dig borehole. Do you know how many people can afford or get their hands on 500k at a go their entire lives to fix their water?
In a country as small as Kenya, citizens don’t drill boreholes, and the government supplies water!
Let’s go to electricity;
Nigeria elites have also ensured that electricity is not sustainable; Ghana has electricity, Kenya has electricity, but Nigeria, as big as it is, we don’t have electricity — why? So Nigeria elites always believe that if nobody has electricity in the area and the elite can buy a lister generator or fuel their diesel generator with 10k daily, then they are made. Get it?
Health
A Nigerian elite believes that if the health system is not working, but they can fly their own and kids abroad, they are made and better than the rest, and that's all that matters. I don’t see how they fail to see that they wouldn't have anywhere to go if the European elites did the same. You see, our dear PMB, he doesn’t give a f***k. He goes abroad to check his ear anytime he likes. Can you see the way the Nigerian elite work?
Education
Nigeria elite prefers that the Nigerian students in Nigeria are not working. The university is in shambles, always going on strike with everywhere messed up, workers not well paid, no facilities and everything is in chaos. Still, they can send their children abroad to school, so they don’t give a f*k, and that’s how it is supposed to be.
Financial Institutions
A Nigerian elite prefers that a Nigerian bank don’t operate like a standard bank abroad. Let me explain, regular banks abroad, and if you use them for 6months, they give you overdraft because you’ve been using x amount of money, you’re now eligible to collect this kind of loan. This is the case in Kenya. Nigeria banks don’t do that; they won’t give loans on similar conditions. They don’t adequately provide regular banking services as seen abroad. (I use the word abroad here to mean almost every other country asides from Nigeria and not just the USA as we are used to lol)
Again, the Nigeria elite thrive on being able to say, “Una dey that ground me I go dey this up,”
They thrive on that disparity of income, they thrive on that hierarchy of wealth, of being that the rest of you are down there and you have to come to me for help lol
The mentality of the Nigerian elite- their worst fears!
They do not want people to be able to break out!
They know that there is some current crop of young people that don’t owe government shit! Illustration: Someone that became rich not by depending on government jobs, contracts nor from being corrupt; But became rich on their own! Such a person will be able to live and speak freely because they became rich on their own. The person doesn’t have to submit to any of the ‘brouhahas they put up because they made their own money.
They’ve seen that there is a trend in the possibility of people breaking through their wealth barrier by investing in cryptocurrencies by investing in stocks outside the Nigeria ecosystem. These are the things that if people invest consistently in the next five — 10years people can become wealthy.
Thus they don’t want to give you an avenue to break out because they already know that they are not giving you jobs (the president said that in an official statement) they are not giving you enabling environment, they are not giving you electricity, they are not giving you the education. “So they already know say them don finish you: so how you wan take dey find crypto, how you “wan” come dey find Twitter, how you wan come dey find stocks wey could make you still attain the level of self-sufficiency wey them they no wan make you achieve. — this thought is killing them, that despite all their efforts to frustrate people’s effort you champs still find a way and begining to eat them like never before.
Because they know say once you don get that level of self sufficiency , they cannot control you anymore, they cannot give you crumbs anymore. You are going to demand for better! It is a long ride , a long long one as they will continue to ban a lot more things, and eventually they will frustrate you out of this country, (even this they are trying to stop — have you tired to get a passport recently?lol e be things!
At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK was calling for medical doctors from all over the world, the FGN halted their movement; this points to a time when eventually you would not be able to access a lot of services by being in this country and of course, what will now happen is that “people wey fit commot go commot - people way fit ooo”, and people wey no fit commot go dey here and that even sells their story for them like they prefer people shouting from outside — because calling and shouting from outside doesn’t really make any effect, “people wey go vote dey here “
The Nigeria elite is a terrible example of a wealth story that you do not want to tell anybody because it’s bizarre, awful, and everything black.
In all of this drama, the biggest losers will be the middle class. This is because the middle class think that as long as they are not at the bottom, they are safe. But when those at the bottom comes for those at the top, no one will be spared!
This rant — “ranteur” was co-authored by Oluwatobi Akindunjoye & DOUGH ONAH, your everyday oppressed citizens in a democratic country!
PS: This isn't a research piece; it is basically one of our many, many, many rants transcribed into an article! Practically our thoughts are based on an observed pattern over 38 years — it that is not research, I don't know what else is, lol.
