President of Nigeria Buhari and US Secretary of State Blinken

Dis Naija na banana republic

“Dis Naija na banana republic”, is what the cab driver said to me during our trip. While the banana industry may not be the main benefactor of widespread and deepening corruption in Nigeria (it’s the oil), there is a general lack of class analysis and revolutionary consciousness owing mostly to decades-long imperialist propaganda and baked-in capitalist ideals across much of Nigerian society. The driver, a worker like myself, can point out these stark problems through generalizations e.g., ‘dis politicians dey benefit from how tings don spoil’, or can bring up specifics related to long fuel queues or poor power supply. . . .