Olodo Uprising: When Ignorance Masquerades as Authenticity.

The term Authenticity, according to Cambridge Dictionary means, the quality of being real or true. Establishing this, being true to oneself does not translate to embracing idiocy also known as Olodo in Nigerian (pidgin) English. Olodo uprising is a phrase that has become a popular discussion in various social media platforms across Nigeria. It came to light through a podcast known as the Afropolitan Podcast. YCee, a popular Nigerian musician rapper used this phrase to expound on the cultural trend of absurdity that has flooded social media platforms through figures like Peller, a popular Nigerian streamer. In 1994, Dele Farotimi made a similar comment using the term, weaponised ignorance, which he believed, stemmed from the structure of Nigeria as a society, where the people at the helm of affairs intentionally created this system to allow them engage in corrupt practices, to prevent public scrutiny. This played a critical role in the arising poverty rate and intellectual gap in Nigeria from the late 20th century. The Nigerian Lawyer and Activist, recently on his social media page, emphasised that the term, ‘Olodo Uprising’ is a by product of the weaponised ignorance, he spoke about in the 90s. In light of this, this essay emphasises that, olodo uprising has indeed rewarded ignorance and has created a society that lacks intellectual value and this situation can be greatly attributed to the conditioning of the Nigerian environment. Primarily, this discourse goes beyond formal education. With the increasing gap between the rich and the poor in Nigeria, it is understandable that significant amounts of children are unable to attend schools; however, it is not an excuse to encourage Idiocy. The CEO of Moniepoint, Tosin Eniolorunda, made a disheartening comment that, his firm struggled to fill over 500 roles due to incompatibility with global standards, buttressing the disappointing level of the employability of Nigerian youths. While it is evidenced that the Job market in Nigeria is not in good shape, over 500 roles are vacant due to the lack of employability of an average Nigeria youth and this stat is just for one company. The youths of Nigeria has resorted to wasting their time and potential on social media platforms arguing on irrelevant matters and engaging with creators who do not improve their worth. One might argue that social media is a source of entertainment and that entertainment should not be limited to intellectual discourse alone. However, majority of youths in Nigeria are consumers of content that would not increase their relevance not just to the job market but also to the society. They spend hours engaging in brain rot content that do not improve their lives in any form. There is a saying, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, but this saying is incomplete. It also adds that ‘All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy’. In essence, consuming continuously content that have no intellectual meaning and is constantly encouraged is creating a society full of irresponsible youths, who slowly become ‘olodos’ and cannot engage in meaningful conversations. The problem is not the content creators, but the consumers who constantly engage in these types of content. This is not just limited to persons who did not undergo formal education. It also includes the graduates. Comments like ‘School na scam’ is popularised among Nigerian Youths. This thought process, although is as a result of unemployed graduates, it is fuelled by the type of content the youths expose themselves to. Beyond engaging in unintelligent content, there is an increasing number of youths engaging in illegal activities to fund their lifestyle or even to survive. Practices like ‘Yahoo’, which is literally fraud, is highly appreciated among Nigerian youths and even the older generation. In essence, our potentials are diverted to the wrong activities and this creates the by-product, olodo uprising. Olodo uprising goes beyond formal intellect but also moral and emotional intelligence. Encouraging such illegal practices in our society shapes our youth into people who lack moral and emotional value. As a result of this, it is no surprise that Nigerians are known all over the world as corrupt and untrustworthy. This is because; we have embraced and glorified societal trends that has produced olodos in our country. This dilemma cannot be separated from the Nigerian government and the environment they have created from the period of independence until date. Prior to the Independence, such systems were also in place by the colonial government, in other to subject us, under their will. During the colonial era and the early independent era, Nigeria’s human resource development was quite low as intellectual and greater projects were carried out by indigenes of colonial countries, causing Nigerians to engage in menial jobs in factories and engage in farming. In the same vein, the Nigerian government has constantly failed its youths in various aspect. For instance, the educational system in Nigeria places theory over practical, which places Nigerian youths below the perking order in the Job market across the world. Furthermore, corruption has long been a thriving concept in Nigerian government and this does not Nigerians to grow. When the leader is on the wrong path, the followers are likely to follow such path and that is the situation in Nigeria.Olodo uprising is a concept that is slowly taking over Nigeria and producing a generation of olodos, which would likely affect the next generations. Nigerian youths should question the direction; Nigeria is going and act fast to prevent the rise of an olodo generation. This starts by filtering what we see, watch, hear, and enhancing our productivity by engaging in the right activities. Furthermore, we should actively participate in politics by getting our PVC (Personal Voter’s Card) and voting in the right candidate that will create the right environment to thrive.

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