By Agbor Ndoma Agbor
Nigeria stands at a crossroad; bleeding, sinking, suffocating and gasping for refresh air of leadership. A nation brimming with talent, rich in natural resources, and resilient in spirit is being slowly suffocated—not by external enemies, but by internal sycophancy, hypocrisy and decay. The decay of values, leadership, and accountability. At the heart of this destruction is a class that should have been the vanguard of change—the Nigerian elites.
The Nigerian elite class—comprising politicians, business magnates, technocrats, academicians and intellectuals—has for decades posed as the custodians of progress. They speak eloquently at conferences, brandished foreign-educated credentials, and quote Mandela and Obama with effortless grace. They are active on social media and television screens lamenting Nigeria’s decline and calling for change,but their actions, or lack thereof, tell a different story.
This class has become complicit in the destruction of Nigeria, pretending to advance the nation but acting in complete opposition. Rather than leveraging their privilege and influence for the public good, many have built personal empires on the ruins of public infrastructure. While the average Nigerian queues for hours at fuel stations in an oil- producing nation, the elite enjoy uninterrupted power from imported generators and private estates. While millions of children roam the streets without education, their own children school abroad and return only to repeat the cycle of exclusion.
There is a term for this: hypocrisy.
Elites preach accountability but resist it when held to their own standards. They decry corruption but maintain silent partnerships with politicians who loot public coffers. They support democracy in theory, but in practice, are gatekeepers of a patronage system that suffocates merit and innovation. They demand good governance from the sidelines while enabling the very structures that undermine it. They incites citizens to tighten their belt while the continue to live larger than life in their new sophiscated presidential jets and parliamentary SUVs.
Why is this happening? Because many among the elite have benefitted immensely from a dysfunctional system. They do not want real reform; they want a more comfortable dysfunction. A dysfunction that cushions their privilege while offering the illusion of progress. This is why policies meant to empower the masses are watered down. Why independent institutions are captured. Why protests are demonized. And why every attempt at structural reform meets stiff resistance.
But this hypocrisy is not just moral failure—it is an existential threat. The destruction of Nigeria is not abstract; it is visible in our eroded education system, decaying healthcare, rising insecurity, and collapsing infrastructure. It is heard in the despair of the unemployed graduate, the cry of a mother who cannot afford hospital bills, and the silence of entire communities neglected by those in power.
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And the consequences will not spare anyone. The gated estates will not hold when the anger outside boils over. Foreign passports will not protect a name already stained by complicity. The illusion of separation between the suffering masses and the insulated elite is crumbling. Injustice, when allowed to fester, consumes all.
But all hope is not lost.
A new consciousness is emerging. Nigerians—especially the youth—are becoming increasingly aware of this hypocrisy and are demanding better. They are organizing, innovating, and refusing to be silenced. The 2020 #EndSARS protests were a clear message: we see through the masks, and we are no longer afraid.
What Nigeria needs now is a new elite—one defined not by wealth or title, but by character, sacrifice, and vision. An elite that is willing to give up comfort for justice, silence for truth, and self-interest for the collective good. An elite that chooses to build rather than extract.
To the current elite: history is watching. You can either be remembered as the generation that watched Nigeria burn while sipping wine in air-conditioned offices—or as those who rose above self-interest to salvage a nation on the brink.
The time for performative patriotism is over. The time for masquerading development with destructive clothing has been unmasked.
Let us reject hypocrisy. Let’s rebuild Nigeria, not from above but from within.
About The Author
Agbor Ndoma Agbor is the Executive Director, CSAD and a Regenerative Sustainability Specialist with a strong passion for good governance in Nigeria. He can be reached via csad.agric10@gmail.com