By Reno Omokri
True story: I take brain-enhancing supplements. And I wanted to market them in Nigeria because they help me think deeply. I mentioned this to a friend who owns malls across Nigeria. He told me not to waste my time. He said if I want to make money in Nigeria, I should sell sexual enhancement.
It made me sad, but can I say he was lying ? I asked some other people, and they all said the same thing to me differently.
And then I began to think deeply about this. Do we, as a society, value pleasure over treasure ? And is that why we are almost always under financial pressure ? We are multiplying our population without multiplying our remuneration. And until we reverse this, we will not fulfil our potential.
I still wanted to investigate this matter some more. My mind is analytical, and until I have empirical data, I am not sure to accept a premise.
So I thought to myself, what can I investigate or invigilate to either lend or take away credence from these assertions about our contemporary values as a people?
So, I decided to investigate the biggest YouTube channels in European countries and African nations and was stunned by my findings!
There are loads of Nigerians doing skits. It’s probably one of the biggest things online for Nigerians. We are inundated with entertainment and cruise. But you hardly see Nigerians doing ‘How To’ videos. How to start a business. How to get a scholarship. How to build a drone. How to start a cucumber farm. Our passion is to be entertained.
The biggest YouTube channel in Sweden is PewDiePie, with 111 million subscribers. It is about using humour to teach gaming, investments such as NFTs, and new digital technology. In Germany, it is Kurzgesagt, with 22 million subscribers. It is about science and focuses on education. In France, it is Squeezie, with 18.7 million subscribers. Squeezie is basically a French version of PewDiePie.
In contrast, in Nigeria, the biggest YouTube channel is Mark Angel Comedy, and the next top five are comedians, rappers or singers.
In Ghana, the biggest channel is Sarkodie’s. He is a Ghanaian rapper. In South Africa, it is Trevor Noah, the comedian. In Ethiopia, it is Hope Music, a music group.
Next, I investigated countries with the most significant traffic on a particular p*rn-graphic website called Pornhub. And lo and behold, Nigeria topped their visitor traffic.
I found this hard to accept and reconcile with our outward appearance of religiosity. Nigeria is perhaps one of the most religious nations on Earth.
Who are the people visiting these pornographic websites ?
The most important job in Nigeria today is not being president. The Director General of the National Orientation Agency has the most vital job in Nigeria, because Nigerians need a change of attitude.
We need to be reoriented towards patriotism and wholesomeness.
Nigerians delight in running down Nigeria on social media and even try to outdo each other on who can do it better. And it is not just young Generation Z. Elders do it. Clerics too. Supposed statesmen engage in it.
Recently, a Russian woman who now lives in Nigeria said she loves Nigeria because “it is just a cruise country.”
Let me translate that for you. She admires Nigeria because we are an unserious country, with unserious people, who do not take important matters seriously but major on the minor. That was an insult.
We need to grow a new mindset. We must move towards being a country that is focused on growth and productivity, not a country of natural complainers, who have one of the lowest tax-to-GDP rates on Earth, yet want our government to do for us what governments in nations where they pay taxes do for their citizens, while we all sit down and are entertained and use whatever money we can find to buy imported goods and services then blame our government when our national currency refuses to rise.
