@Big_marvis = #5.460T a month, check the amount that is not remitted to the national account as reported by world Bank and you'll see where Nigeria problem is coming from and why we need to get rid off this thiefs.
Many people might not believe this but...
In 2023, I was packed into a police Danfo during a random raid in Jos, Plateau state. I was trekking for an all night session in school. They drove us to the station, seized our phones, and told everyone to sit on the bare floor behind the counter. The IPO in his faded uniform brought out rumpled sheets of paper and shouted ''Criminals remove your shoes make una write una statement for here''
I tried to look at the guys beside me who were sweating and writing things like "I am just walking and police catch me abeg I am a student." Another guy with a torn shirt was writing, "I swear to God I am not a cultist, I only went to buy indomie and egg, my mother is a widow." One particular guy was literally dropping tears on his paper, writing, "I don't smoke loud, I have CHM 101 test tomorrow morning, please have mercy in Jesus name."
I knew my family did not have 50k for any emergency bail. So I sat on that cold floor, balanced the paper on my knee, and activated the ''Femi Falana'' in me (small HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MUDER was giving me confidence).
I did not write a plea o. I wrote a chronological, legally terrifying timeline of my abduction. I used phrases like "unlawful detainment," "absence of probable cause," and "infringement of fundamental liberties." I made sure my handwriting was looking like a typed font๐คฒ๐พ
Thirty minutes later, the DPO walked in to inspect the night's harvest. He was biting the edge of a pure water sachet when he started reading the statements one by one, tossing them aside. Then he picked up my paper. He read the first paragraph, stopped, and looked at the crowd on the floor. He read it again.
I was already preparing my mind for Cell One, the one with Mosquitoes that trained in Afghanistan. I was entirely convinced my grammar had angered him.
The DPO looked at the IPO and said, "Who write this thing?" The IPO pointed at me. The DPO told me to stand up and follow him to his office. At that point, I wished I wrote my statement in Hausa๐ญ
I entered the room, sweating like cold water. He sat down, dropped the paper on his desk, and said, "So, you sabi write English like this and you dey waka late night?"
He opened his drawer and brought out a massive stack of dirty files. He complained that the station's secretary had been sick for three days and they had a massive backlog of official reports to send to the Area Commander.
I did not enter the cell that night. I sat in a perfectly air-conditioned office from 11 PM to 4 AM, actively ghostwriting police reports, restructuring suspect confessions, and formatting legal petitions for the Nigerian Police Force. By 5 AM, the DPO gave me 15k cash for a job well done, bought me a plate of white rice, and ordered the patrol van to drive me safely to my hostel with full escorts.
If you are currently smiling at this beautiful grass-to-grace story, I want you to know that you just read several heavy paragraphs of pure, undiluted fiction. I have never been arrested in my life. I am currently on my bed eating bread and egg. But like the original tweet said, proper articulation solves 75% of your problems. The remaining 25% is knowing how to lie fluently to farm engagement on this app. Happy Sunday.
The U.S. Mission in Nigeria is now inviting Nigerians between 18 and 45 years, the very age group that should be building skills, industries, institutions and innovation, to compete in a social media skit contest about how American products and ideas shape our lives. I cannot remember seeing the U.S. Embassy in Germany, China, South Korea or other industrial powers asking their young people to run around making skits to promote American brands. When you look at how those countries relate to the United States, you see them negotiating technology, trade, defence and industrial policy. With us, it is content and creativity contests.
We have seen this script before. In Black America, the most celebrated paths became entertainment, music, comedy and sports. A powerful culture, yes, but not a powerful economy. Fame without ownership. Visibility without structural power. Now a similar model is being exported to Africa in the language of opportunity and cultural exchange.
Meanwhile, countries like China, India, South Korea and Germany are pouring resources into engineers, technicians, researchers, inventors and manufacturers. They reward innovation. We reward skits. They build industries. We build followings.
Entertainment can change individual lives, but it does not build nations. Skills do. Innovation does. Production does. If we keep training our brightest 18 to 45 year olds to chase virality instead of mastery, Africa will become a continent that is visible yet not powerful, loud yet not influential.
We must decide whether we want to be a viral continent or a visionary one. Only one of those choices leads to real power.
It will only take great and literate minds to understand what these situations are costing businesses every day. Itโs not for self; itโs for everyone. Iโm glad Folajomi spoke on this.