Life as we know it @Michael09672874

What should the Igbo traders do? I think that is the wrong question. It should be: What should all Africans do? Everyone sees Africa as a continent ripe for extraction, not collaboration. The reason the Chinese will try to go to consumers is that our retail is grossly inefficient. Twiga Foods in Kenya went into receivership yesterday after raising a lot of money and couldn't crack or optimize the informal market in Kenya. What are the lessons they have learned, and how can we use those lessons to move forward? We don't have proper retail playbooks, and you will be surprised by how messy our distribution is right now. Everything starts with banking, and one thing people will find hard to say in a place like Nigeria, and which will come to other markets, is that it is easier for the Chinese to do retail when they have already gained a foothold in payments and banking. It shouldn't have happened, but we let it happen anyway. From the national roadmap below, the Chinese are more interested in dominating manufacturing than retail. We cannot beat them there. What we can beat them at is the last mile and in consumer experiences. Losing in that space now is only a temporary setback. We must learn from past mistakes, modernize our playbooks, and dominate consumer interfaces and experiences because we still have some cultural advantage. The Chinese will not open corner shops but can create efficient distribution to them. I have seen the massive China Malls in Ghana, but surprisingly, they also sell a lot of local products there. One thing that shocked me was getting local plantain chips from them at wholesale prices. The retailers now go to these places to shop and sell locally. The reason they can dominate this layer is very simple. We waited till it was too late. All their POS devices are from Palmpay, another Chinese-backed company. They have been able to study the market and build efficiency in ways we have not. All is not lost. We just have to start thinking about the future and acting the way the Chinese do. We can't beat them in manufacturing, but we can make it impossible for them to beat us on the ground in our markets. Collaboration is the way forward. It is not about silly ethnic politics or flaunting “wealth” in the midst of poverty. African tech should forget eCommerce and support StreetCommerce. cc: @the_wendyq @Omniretail @Infibranchesng

Osaretin Victor Asemota @asemota

a day ago

Each ray of sunlight takes about 14 minutes to get to Earth. Light from the stars takes millions of years. Trying to copy what a successful economy did decades ago is like trying to go back to catch light before it comes. Use the light to look further into your darkness.

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Messi can now retire, we have his regen at Arsenal x.com/kalfa5/status/…

@WelBeast I will be hating on villa and utd. Kojubelo

💯. People really underestimate how much family and friends support shapes the migration story. Some of us didn’t land into cold streets, we landed into warmth, guidance, and people who made the transition human. When we arrived, my uncle collected us from the airport. First stop was a relative’s place in Brockley, that’s where I tasted Müller yoghurt for the first time, and I still love it till today. Then New Cross to see aunty, uncle and my cousins, one had visited Nigeria before and I remember how she loved chips 😂. After that, we finally went to Streatham where we would be staying. It was myself and mom. A brother was already in the UK studying he also helped a lot. It’s a huge blessing to have family help you start afresh in a new country. We stayed with family before renting and eventually buying our own place. And we didn’t just use space, we added value. They missed us so much when we left. My aunty and uncle are still some of my favourite people; I was basically their daughter since they had three sons. God bless people who make life easier for others, especially during big transitions like moving abroad. Back then, there was no Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram no online community to guide you. You relied on real humans, real support, real love. This is why i share posts others might find useful. x.com/Funminz/status…

Mr Kay🇬🇧 @RealMrKay

4 days ago

Migrating abroad, having someone or family member receive you at the airport, give you shelter, feed you, educate you about the system, assist you secure a job and your own accommodation is a something you shouldn’t take for granted.

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@asemota This one touch me, I just sent the post and a long vn to my best friends, this Japa syndrone no good at all but hope still dey for Nigerians wey relocate within Africa sha.

We are laughing online at stupid jokes and really don't know the impact of this. All my close friends used to drink at Bungalows and had their own table. They are now captains of industry in their own right. I lost touch when I moved, and reconnecting is always at rare social events that I don't always like to attend because of travel. It is not the same thing as when we used to see each other almost daily after work. I consider those relationships to be historical now, as we have all changed and drifted apart. They still reach out randomly, and I do so too, and it is always for a reason, unlike when it was for fun. My co-founder moved to Australia before he passed this year. My best man is in Manchester. The best we did before my cofounder died was random calls, same with my best man. My daughter is worried about this and keeps saying, "Daddy has no friends he hangs out with." I have new friends, but hanging out with them is not the same as with the people I grew up with. People I knew from when they had nothing to the superstars they are today. People who also know me well and don't see me as larger than life. Nigeria has lost many good people. I randomly ask about people, and they have either relocated or passed away. Some guys from Ikoyi Club came to Accra recently, and I didn't really know any of them anymore. Community in Nigeria is not what it used to be. So many are pretending to be what they are not. Politics has polarized everything too. We didn't use to let it define our identity, but it now rules people's lives. Everyone is walking on eggshells, especially in Lagos. Competition among people was bad in our time, but it's insane now!! I watch younger people interact in Nigeria, and I worry about the future. Saying "NGMI" is not a joke anymore, but a prophecy. I no longer recognize Nigeria, and I think I have now fully detached. I have no real ties as my nuclear family is out of there. 4 siblings in 4 countries, and my mother is now fully American. The next stage for me is to get a different passport. I have resisted it for decades, as believe it or not, I love being Nigerian. That is what has happened to our generation, and it is much worse with the one after.

Neto @docneto

3 days ago

Speaking to several young, upwardly mobile Kenyans, I realised that unlike young Nigerians, their social circles haven't been decimated as much by emigration like the Nigerian ones have been. The last decade of leadership has been socially disastrous for young Nigerians.

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Oofs, man. Oofs. 🥹

Soon as Arteta gets his attacker in January :

This aged like milk 😭😭😭😭

“IF WE STARTED THE SEASON WITH CARRICK, WE WOULD HAVE WON THE LEAGUE” Una don lose to 10-man Citeh

Manchester United is no longer that Club that people fear and respect and that is the harsh reality #mufc #mcfc #premierleague

“If Carrick had started the league, we would have won it easily” is already 8 points behind in the title race by match week 4.

@McFlybowy @Coasttyga I get your points but I will give him this season. I believe he can be that superstar boy, it's all on him now.

You are a weakling and have no balls if you agree to marry a woman who says she won't submit - Pastor Femi Lazarus tells men.

In 100 years, when the story of how Nigeria was destroyed in the 21st century is told, there will be barely a mention of how the United States created a terror group that ended up operating in Nigeria, used the presence of that group as a pretext to invade, with the help of a president who was once part of a criminal gang in the US, and proceeded to appropriate the country’s mineral development, minerals that power the future of the global economy. All that will be recorded is that Nigerian leaders were corrupt individuals who could not govern and looted everything in sight. This is exactly how the stories of the 18th and 19th centuries are told today, riddled with accounts of how African chiefs sold their own subjects into slavery, with no mention of how the slave trade became an industry in the first place, who built the trading infrastructure, who sponsored conflicts so that people could be captured and sold, and what happened to those who refused to participate in this forced commercial arrangement. This is why it is important that we keep exposing the Western extractive structure and documenting it. A one-sided story must not be told in the future.

I'm pleased with a subtle shift in my mindset. These days I am less outraged at the foolishness of my countrymen. So when I see them giving political and geopolitical opinions that range from stupid to suicidal I smile wryly and shake my head. You know why? It's because it is easier to plant mango and harvest onions than to change the minds of the victims of the most aggressive and ongoing psychological and material suppression campaigns in history. At least not at scale. You can maybe change the minds of a few hundred people with enough food in their stomach to listen to you, and enough money to afford data to educate themselves. What you cannot do at scale is educate a population that's immiserated in mind-numbing poverty, plagued by insecurity and constantly hit from all sides by well engineered, pervasive and self sustaining psychological warfare. The average Nigerian is hit from all sides. His traitorous warrant chiefs deliberately keep him poor, starving and illiterate. His ethnic champions have constructed an imaginary world where other ethnic groups are vying to dethrone his tribe from his tribe's imaginary number 1 spot atop the current shit heap that is Nigerian society. ... And to make sure the pot doesn't boil over, his favorite religious leader (whose pocket is stuffed full of American or Saudi dollars) keeps him docile and submissive with the sweet, sweet opium of religion. As insurance, the colonizers and their proxies happily help install, fund and protect all of the above entities to keep the average Nigerian in a perpetual state of hunger and misery. So really what chance does the average Chioma, Tunde or Hassan stand? Truthfully, until a few years ago, I was really no different. I used to regard (at least nominally) the United States and it's Western sidekicks as the "good guys" I used to believe in the psyops. So with all this in mind, I've reached the conclusion for the umpteenth time that you really cannot "wake the people" You have to lift them up kicking and screaming and firmly carry them into a new reality where their material conditions are vastly improved. Then you proceed to educate their children whether they agree or not. There is no other way. Now I'm not going to pretend like I have a foolproof, step-by-step playbook on how to achieve this...Not to talk of the means. But I do know have a nominal idea of which direction we need to go, and a few (albeit unproven) possible paths to get there. Above all I hope to be able to do what I can in the not too distant future.

APC WILL WIN AGAIN, AND NIGERIANS WILL HELP THEM APC may win the next election, not because Nigerians are happy or the country is working, but because too many Nigerians have a price. And please, stop pretending the only people selling Nigeria are poor people collecting ₦5,000 and bags of rice. Some Nigerians are selling Nigeria for chicken change. Others are selling it for millions. Some want appointments. Some want government contracts. Some want licences, waivers, and access. Some want their corruption cases buried. Some want protection for businesses that cannot survive in a functioning country. Some are feeding off the chaos and will fight anyone trying to sanitize the country. Everybody has their own price. The only difference is the number of zeros. The poor man collects rice at the polling unit, and we call him stupid. The rich man collects a government contract, and suddenly we call him a "businessman." The thug gets ₦20,000 to disrupt an election. The educated professional gets an appointment and begins defending nonsense with big grammar. The influencer gets paid. The traditional ruler gets a mining licence. Different packaging. Same transaction. Nigeria is being sold at every level. Then some don't even need money. Tribalism is enough. Give some Nigerians the worst candidate imaginable, and they will support him as long as he speaks their dialect. They would rather suffer under "their own person" than prosper under somebody they have been taught to regard as an outsider. There are also religious extremists and sectarian actors who see politics as another battlefield for religious domination. For them, elections are not primarily about roads, schools, electricity, or economic growth. They are about shariah and power. Then some people simply don’t want a working Nigeria. Yes. Some Nigerians need Nigeria to remain dysfunctional. The smuggler needs porous borders. The oil thief needs weak enforcement. The corrupt contractor needs government incompetence. The election rigger needs weak institutions. The kidnap economy needs insecurity. The politically connected importer needs special access. The official collecting kickbacks needs opacity. The criminal businessman needs regulators who can be bought. The political godfather needs poverty because hungry people are easier to recruit. The drug sellers also need a market. A functioning Nigeria is actually bad for business for these people. They are actively benefiting from Nigeria being broken. They don't want reform. They want continuity. They don't want strong institutions because strong institutions would eventually come looking for them. And yes, some Nigerians also have interests tied to foreign governments, foreign businesses, and external political or commercial networks. Politicians recruit Nigerians to destroy Nigerian democracy. Then we arrive at election day. Who collects the money? Who snatches the ballot box? Who thumbprints the ballots? Who becomes the thug? Who intimidates voters? Who disrupts polling units? Who looks away? Who provides political cover? Who provides intellectual justification afterward? Nigerians. And then there is another group. Those who won't collect anything but are too afraid to resist. I understand them. Why should ordinary citizens become martyrs just to cast a ballot while armed thugs intimidate people and institutions fail to protect them? That is how democracy is strangled. One group sells it. Another group profits from it. Another group tribalises it. Another group weaponises religion around it. Another group protects its illicit economy through it. Another group rationalises it. And another group simply stays home. This is why poverty is such powerful political infrastructure. Hunger makes vote-buying cheap. Unemployment provides recruits. Tribalism provides loyal voters. Religious extremism provides ideological foot soldiers. Corruption provides financiers. Fear keeps decent people away. Politicians don't need everybody to love them. They only need enough Nigerians to be hungry, greedy, tribalistic, compromised, frightened, fanatical, or comfortable with the status quo. These bad elements can defeat millions of people who simply want a better country. So yes, APC may win again. And if it does through manipulation, inducement, or intimidation, don't blame only the poor woman who collected rice. Look at everybody whose prosperity depends on Nigeria's dysfunction. Nigeria is not being sold only for ₦5,000. Some people are selling it for ₦5 billion. Nigeria's greatest problem has never been the absence of people promising change. It is the enormous ecosystem of people benefiting from preventing change. Abolaji Rasaq

No. The best move for Peter Obi is to fight the government “leg-on” and get his mandate stolen as usual. And might I also remind you that he would personally lose nothing, as he's already made for life. As for you, whose mandate Obi represents, don't go and do the “head-on” fighting. Keep waiting for David Hundeyin to return from “exile.”

Mr. Czar @Mrczar_

7 days ago

Come to think of it: if David Hundeyin genuinely believes the best move for Peter Obi is to fight the government head-on, why is he still hiding in exile?

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@mr_nyenke @Big_Mck Why must he organise people ? You already understand his point with educating people, take it further by organising your people to take the country back, you can also do it man. Smh

Coach nominated for Coach of the Year. Goalkeeper in Goalkeeper of the Year nominations. Three players make top 30 in Player of the Year. Club in Club of the Year nominations. Arsenal arrived again in 2026. The journey took some time. Let's step it up.

Arsenal @Arsenal

a week ago

Three outstanding campaigns ❤️ Declan Rice, Gabriel and William Saliba are nominated for the 2026 Men's Ballon d'Or 👇

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