Nigeria Does Not Work
Written by: Aduke Akinwumi
March 20th, 2025
A conversation has started online once again. About the regrettable state of Nigeria. A user on TikTok @talktoraye made a video where she expresses her frustration about the state of the country. Nothing is stable, prices for goods go up every week and you can’t rely on infrastructural amenities to work.
As a young person living in Nigeria, her income evaporates as soon as she pays her bills, transport, data and food. It’s devastating.
I started writing this a few days ago when I first saw the video in the passing days since Raye took to TikTok. She has sparked a challenge in which she urges Nigerians to speak about the hardship they face in the country. The challenge has been called the #30DayRantChallenge where she encourages everyone to speak up for 30 days in order to get their needs met.
Since then, I've seen countless videos, tweets and images about the plight of the Nigerian diaspora. Everyone is suffering from the same incompetent and callous leadership that has no mind towards the people.
Though the majority of people are banding together, not everyone seems to have liked her speaking up. Raye’s comment section was filled with what I can only call crabs in a bucket. And she was even threatened by the NYSC, a mandatory service that she is currently serving under. This is representative of a large subset of Nigerian society. Where many people believe in ‘minding your business’ and ‘respecting your elders’ above all else.
The crabs attacked the delivery of her statement. Saying that she insulted our incompetent president by saying he is terrible at his job. They then attacked her complaints in the video asking her, what do you need a crate of egg for? They also took issue with the fact she asked, “What has Tinubu done??” and “Why does an entire state smell like this? and what is the government doing about the bad smell?” in regard to the smell of Lagos state. I don’t really understand the rationale in attacking her over what she said, we should call a spade a spade and advocate for a better standard of living. There is no reason for young people to run themselves mad to barely survive. Unfortunately, though when advocating for your rights a large subset will condemn you for voicing your plight even though they are suffering from the same issues.
Over the past few days #TinubuIsATerriblePresident has also sprung up alongside the 30DayRantChallenge. The complaints range from food insecurity, lack of housing, lack of safety, price increases in education, lack of healthcare, the rise in terrorism, the rise in corruption, and the depreciation of infrastructure. There is a personal account for any situation you can think of and it's truly so sad. With most people saying “NIgeria happened to me” then going on to explain what/how it happened.
It's really painful to see everyone lamenting about he state of disarray the country has fallen into, but it is necessary to voice the pain that this administration is causing and refusing to fix. Congruently there has been so much civil unrest in the North with killings that are not prosecuted and now with the unconstitutional removal of the Rivers state governor, and this outstanding issue of Senator Nathasa removal from senate. Nigeria feels deeply unstable and I'm deeply worried for the future of the country and the people.
Nigerians deserve more out of life than to spend all their time hustling, Nigerians deserve safety, Nigerians deserve security, Nigerians deserve to be able to flourish in Nigeria. The current system is relying on japa-ing in order for Nigerians to flourish but this is not the solution to the hardship of Nigerians, structural reform and revolution is.
I've linked below a few videos and tweets I've seen over the last few days of people's rants about the country. Hopefully this gives more insight into the current state of the country and what is happening to the people within it.
Where is our own Ibrahim Traoré FR.
#EndBadGovernace
#TinubuIsATerriblePresident
#30DayRantChallenge
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