There are two Nigerias.
The one most of us live in, where we think twice before buying food, where electricity is a luxury, where leaving home feels like a risk and where every day is a hustle just to survive.
And then there’s the other Nigeria, a padded, air-conditioned version reserved exclusively for those in power.
Every week, something happens to remind us: our leaders don’t live in the Nigeria we know. They live somewhere else entirely.
1. Insecurity: A Daily Reality vs. a Budget Line
Ask anyone who commutes in the mornings: traveling across towns is nerve-wracking. Communities are attacked, highways are unsafe, families live in constant fear. This December, many people couldn’t travel home due to the rise in kidnapping among many others.
Meanwhile, our leaders move around in massive convoys, with armed escorts clearing the roads.
For them, “security” is just a line in the budget. For us, it’s life or death.
2. Electricity That Only Shines for Them
Millions of Nigerians have slept in darkness multiple times this year due to constant grid collapses. Businesses close. Homes rely on expensive fuel.
Yet politicians in government estates enjoy 24/7 electricity. No generator needed.
And when the grid fails? They barely notice. Their life doesn’t skip a beat. Two different worlds, same country.
3. Lavish Spending While We Struggle
Meanwhile, in our world:
- We calculate every naira spent on food.
- We pray our fuel lasts the week.
- We scroll past news of politicians approving multi-billion-naira SUVs and luxury trips abroad.
Their reality is expensive dinners, foreign travels and renovation budgets that feel like jokes to us.
4. Tone-Deaf Statements About Our Lives
How often do politicians tell us:
- “Food is affordable”
- “Things are getting better”
- “People exaggerate the hardship”?
Statements like these go viral not because Nigerians aren’t trying, but because they’re so out of touch. They don’t shop where we shop. They don’t queue for fuel. They don’t feel the pinch of inflation.
5. Healthcare They Avoid, While We Suffer
Hospitals in Nigeria struggle with understaffing, equipment shortages and long waits. Yet when a politician needs care, they fly abroad for checkups, scans, even minor surgeries.
It’s a bitter truth: the system they manage isn’t even good enough for them but we’re expected to make do.
6. Politics Over People
While most Nigerians are figuring out how to survive, politicians are busy playing musical chairs with power: switching parties, jostling for positions and recycling old faces. Governance has become a chess game not a duty to the people.
The real issue here is, our leaders don’t feel what we feel. They don’t experience the daily grind. They don’t sit in traffic, pay for fuel or stress over bills. And if they never live our reality, how can they possibly fix it?
Insecurity, failing hospitals, endless blackouts, rising prices, these aren’t “political talking points” for us. They are life.
Final Thoughts
Until Nigerian leaders start living in the real Nigeria, nothing will change.
A leader who feels the struggle of the people will govern differently. But as long as they live in a parallel universe, the gap between citizens and those in power will only grow wider.
Nigeria deserves leaders who live, feel and fight in the same country as the people they serve.
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