Nigerian society can be roughly classified into:
• the irresponsible elite; the oil block owners, market monopolists, importation cartels, currency manipulators, top civil servants, political dynasties, aristocrats, princes etc
• the cunning clergy; pastors, Moslem clerics, Bishops etc
• ignorant bourgeois; working class English speakers, degree holders, landless class, corporate employees, academia, unemployed degree holder, Nigerians in the diaspora etc,
• the impatient third estate; hawkers, gatemen, house maids, market women, retail workers, agberos, strippers, prostitutes, club bouncers, marijuana dealers, craftsmen (cobblers, plumbers, welders, mechanics, some tailors) etc.
If you are Nigerian, you fall under at least one of these groups. Under this classification, the farther down you go, the higher the population. Simply put; the elite control raw materials vital to production, monopolizing these materials, they employ the ignorant bourgeois at wholesale level who in turn employ the impatient third Estate at retail level, also note that the ignorant bourgeois also consume the most in Nigeria, they are the major proponents of Naija consumerism. All three in turn pay taxes to the clergy, not the government, the clergy. This is the reality of Naija society today.

Speaking about bourgeois, this group are the most powerful yet the most ignorant of all. A typical bourgeois is homeless and pays rent, he or she is a narcissist who views the lives of other people, especially the impatient 3rd estate as a reflection of his or her own life. He or she is also politically ignorant in that he does not vote and worse, does not feel the need to even though as the main consumerist, he is the first victim of the irresponsible elite. He is also religiously dogmatic and prefers to assign some form of vague spirituality to the ills he finds around him as opposed to confronting these ills. He is the type to buy a Jeep wrangler to navigate horrible road infrastructure instead of demanding his taxes combat infrastructural decay, he is the type to send his offspring abroad instead of fighting Nigeria academia’s monetization of education; he or she is me and you.

The third estate are the result of making bad decisions in an unfortunate public system. The agberos you find in Lagos are mostly migrants from the hinterland, from towns like Ibarapa or Iseyin in Oyo state, those guys whom after primary school, could not afford secondary school and if he could, did not feel worthy since he was continuously demeaned for his inability to reconcile his indigenous background with urbanization. When you were fresh out of secondary school worrying about getting into college, he or she was worried about how to make it to secondary school. The men amongst them migrate to Lagos and become part of the criminal community of pick pockets, buglers, and the women, out ignorance too and low self-esteem become strippers on Allen Avenue strip clubs or worse, the ones who have neither the figure nor the face, stand on the road for Nigerian men of questionable morality.

Had the irresponsible been a bit more frugal and less egotistic, the agberos would be coal miners, iron ore workers, factory workers in car assembly plants, etc. But the money made by this elite does not always trickle down because most of it goes into more consumerist stuff, like buying a Ferrari in a city without enough roads for such a vehicle or sentimental trips to Europe, another half is not properly invested seeing as dishonesty is a culture, another quarter of that profit is lost in Federal and State government bureaucracy after it is paid to them as taxes. Commercial transport, retail and hospitality industries are the highest honest employers of third estate labor in Nigeria and I think pulling out the current Danfo buses without alternatives is a quick recipe for disaster.

Remember August 2012, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, signed the Lagos Traffic Bill into law, banning commercial motorcyclists, popularly called Okada riders, from plying 475 major routes within the state metropolis. This one move caused a major population boom in border towns surrounding Lagos state; Ojodu-Berger, Mowe, Ibafo, Otta areas as far as Ibadan experienced an influx of migrants in search of work. This period also saw the rise of petty crime within Lagos and other town mentioned. I believe the same thing, but on a larger and more devastating scale is going to happen immediately the current Danfo buses are replaced. The advantages maybe the depopulation of Lagos, with the commission of the Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corp (a precursor to state policing if you ask me), the blow back from petty crimes can be combated and former agberos can be employed. The disadvantage is. The Neighborhood Safety Corp is just one institution, once again, job seekers outnumber available jobs so what happens to the those left out? They can migrate yes, but where else apart from Lagos has stable employment for men of their kind of ginger? Is there any form of stable employment for people with very little education? Where are the results of diversifying the economy? Where are the coal mines, the metal smelting factories?

So judge for yourself, is replacing these buses without a suitable alternative really the way forward? Or is engaging the NURTW economically, granting vehicle loans to these Unions to replace the buses, using the Neighborhood Safety Corp to enforce park laws, and actually fixing the damn roads, a better alternative? There are several barriers to this approach but it has much less devastating effects and it is inclusive. Inclusion is key to widespread development, forgive my ignorance but I do not see how building a shopping mall right in the middle of Yaba market is development, it speaks volume about the divide in Nigerian society. We must learn to directly engage the people we want to help.

Cc OAM4J Mynd44

Crap upon Crap of shit
Very crappy writeup indeed

Please explain why you think it is crap.

spartan117:
Crap upon Crap of shit
Very crappy writeup indeed

Still waiting for response, I believe these are issues we need to discuss openly.

spartan117:
Crap upon Crap of shit
Very crappy writeup indeed

naijalander:
Still waiting for response, I believe these are issues we need to discuss openly.

Sorry 4 d delay
First of all d danfo buses are not being pulled out without replacement, gov ambode plans to replace dem with more convenient city buses. I've only spent a few months in Lagos and i already dread entering danfo buses, so d govts plan to replace dem wud directly benefit d masses.


Secondly, u make it sound like all clergymen in d country are crooks like dey are contributing nothing to the nation's economy, but u fail 2 see dat d church in particular is one of our major exports as a nation, mega churches like winners and rccg with branches all over d world attract funds 4rm oda countries and invest in Nigeria. U also fail 2 see dat it was d church dat brought Education to Nigeria thru missionaries, i doubt u wud have d proper Education to compose a writeup of this manner if d missionaries didn't introduce our fathers to western Education.


Thirdly, the ban placed on motorcycles didn't lead 2 an increase in petty crime, rather it led to a decrease because d road side armed robbers frequently used motorcycles as get away vehicles and they had d advantage as they could easily skip traffic compared to d police hilux van. infact, d level of crime perpetrated using motorcycles was one of the factors considered when d ban was being deliberated upon.


I must apologise if my earlier remarks were derogatory, but I hereby submit 2 u dat replacing danfo buses in Lagos will improve d live of d common man especially in d long run, i Therefore urge other states to follow suit.

1. Replacing them is definitely not a bad idea, I'm a frequent user of Danfo and I find them very inconvenient but the replacements will not be buses operating under the NURTW, so you see its not replacement, in reality it is kicking NURTW out of commercial transport within Lagos metropolis. The high light of this move is not providing a suitable alternative for the danfo operators who will lose out. It can easily trigger a rise in crime because the new buses will replace the old ones whose operators happen to pay "owo-ita" every 2 hours. Will Lagos state allow this for the new buses? I doubt it.

2. I appreciate the efforts of religious institutions in Nigeria but even you have to agree their recent operations have excesses. The Church is now big business, evident in the fact that we now export our churches to other countries. For most churches today, its not even about spreading the good news anymore or charity work, I'm not blaming all Churches but you have to agree at least 50% of clergy men (Pastors, Deacons, etc) are fake. Not every thing that happens needs to be ascribed to the supernatural, like when Pastors make yearly predictions about how Lagos - Ibadan Expressway will have a lot of accidents, even a fool could have made that prediction, that road has no lane markers, no speed limit signs, nothing! just plain tarmac and multiple pot holes so of course there will be a lot of road accidents on it. It also sad that Nigerians are more interested in paying tithe and offering than taxes, the ones that pay taxes do not wish to know where the taxes go.

3. Yes motor cycles were used and in some areas are still being used as getaway vehicles during robbery ops but even more were the sole income earner for many people. I definitely agree with the ban but again, it led to rise in unemployment which in turn breeds crime, so yes of course it led to rise in crime rate.

Thank you for apologizing.

spartan117:

Sorry 4 d delay
First of all d danfo buses are not being pulled out without replacement, gov ambode plans to replace dem with more convenient city buses. I've only spent a few months in Lagos and i already dread entering danfo buses, so d govts plan to replace dem wud directly benefit d masses.


Secondly, u make it sound like all clergymen in d country are crooks like dey are contributing nothing to the nation's economy, but u fail 2 see dat d church in particular is one of our major exports as a nation, mega churches like winners and rccg with branches all over d world attract funds 4rm oda countries and invest in Nigeria. U also fail 2 see dat it was d church dat brought Education to Nigeria thru missionaries, i doubt u wud have d proper Education to compose a writeup of this manner if d missionaries didn't introduce our fathers to western Education.


Thirdly, the ban placed on motorcycles didn't lead 2 an increase in petty crime, rather it led to a decrease because d road side armed robbers frequently used motorcycles as get away vehicles and they had d advantage as they could easily skip traffic compared to d police hilux van. infact, d level of crime perpetrated using motorcycles was one of the factors considered when d ban was being deliberated upon.


I must apologise if my earlier remarks were derogatory, but I hereby submit 2 u dat replacing danfo buses in Lagos will improve d live of d common man especially in d long run, i Therefore urge other states to follow suit.

naijalander:
Nigerian society can be roughly classified into:
• the irresponsible elite; the oil block owners, market monopolists, importation cartels, currency manipulators, top civil servants, political dynasties, aristocrats, princes etc
• the cunning clergy; pastors, Moslem clerics, Bishops etc
• ignorant bourgeois; working class English speakers, degree holders, landless class, corporate employees, academia, unemployed degree holder, Nigerians in the diaspora etc,
• the impatient third estate; hawkers, gatemen, house maids, market women, retail workers, agberos, strippers, prostitutes, club bouncers, marijuana dealers, craftsmen (cobblers, plumbers, welders, mechanics, some tailors) etc.
If you are Nigerian, you fall under at least one of these groups. Under this classification, the farther down you go, the higher the population.

Interesting characterisation.

quite accurate if you observe the trend. and anyone is free to move between these classes, some even belong to more than 1 class. Nigerian society is so complex.

johnie:


Interesting characterisation.

..a brilliant write up and food for thought. I couldn't agree any better with your analysis.

Many thanks.

Day169:
..a brilliant write up and food for thought. I couldn't agree any better with your analysis.