NIGERIA stands today as a paradox; a land of immense wealth and promise, yet scarred by deep social and economic inequality. Once, there was a shared sense of purpose and belonging: the rich and the poor learned in the same classrooms, sought treatment in the same hospitals, and walked the same roads.
But those days belong to history. The Nigeria of today is a nation divided between two worlds — one for the privileged elites and another for the struggling masses. The unity that once defined the nation has been eroded by greed, corruption, and a deliberate separation of privilege from poverty.
Government attention follows wealth and power. The Abuja–Kaduna expressway, for instance, receives continuous maintenance due to its importance for the political class, while countless rural roads crumble into death traps. Infrastructure in Nigeria has become a map of privilege: paved where the elite live, forgotten where the poor struggle.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Nigeria’s public education system was a symbol of hope and equality. Children of ministers and mechanics, of farmers and professors, sat side by side in schools like King’s College, Lagos, Government College, Ibadan, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Those schools produced leaders, innovators and thinkers who once believed in a shared destiny.
Today, that ideal has vanished. The children of the elites now study in foreign universities or private academies in Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. Meanwhile, the children of market women, artisans, and civil servants struggle to learn under leaking roofs and broken furniture.
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Nigeria spends only 6 to 7 percent of its national budget on education, far below the UNESCO-recommended 15–20 percent. This chronic underfunding has crippled public schools and widened the gap between the privileged and the poor.
While the son of a senator graduates from Harvard or Dubai, the daughter of a taxi driver in Kano may have to drop out because her school lacks teachers, books, or basic infrastructure. Education; once the ladder of social mobility, has now become a gatekeeper of privilege.
Nothing exposes Nigeria’s social divide more than its healthcare system! The elite no longer trust the hospitals they built for the people. They fly to London, India, or Dubai at the slightest sign of illness, while the poor die daily from preventable diseases.
A recent report revealed that 80 percent of Nigeria’s health infrastructure is dysfunctional, and 75 percent of total health spending is out-of-pocket. This means that ordinary citizens must pay directly for their treatment. For the poor, this often means choosing between hunger and hospital care.
Even presidents and governors routinely seek foreign treatment. Former President Muhammadu Buhari spent several months in a London hospital shortly after assumption of office (and even died in a London clinic), but countless Nigerians die in their droves in overcrowded wards with no drugs or electricity. In 2021, a pregnant woman died in a Lagos hospital because doctors were on strike; a reality that never touches the elite.
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This crass inequality extends to the roads we travel on. In Abuja, the elite glide through smooth boulevards leading to Maitama or Asokoro, escorted by convoys and sirens. In contrast, the roads in Abuja settlements inhabited by the poor are dilapidated and unpaved. What more, roads connecting villages and suburban communities in Zamfara, Benue, or Rivers are often impassable, cutting farmers off from markets and trapping rural communities in poverty and frustration.
Even religious leaders, once defenders of justice, now dine with politicians. The pulpit and the palace have become extensions of power, not platforms for the people. Traditional rulers, clergy, and academics who should speak truth to power often choose comfort over conscience.
Government attention follows wealth and power. The Abuja–Kaduna expressway, for instance, receives continuous maintenance due to its importance for the political class, while countless rural roads crumble into death traps. Infrastructure in Nigeria has become a map of privilege: paved where the elite live, forgotten where the poor struggle.
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The symbolism of “the high table” — once a metaphor for service and leadership — has now become a wall separating rulers from the ruled. Nigeria’s elite dine on imported meals while millions go hungry.
During the 2020–2023 economic crises, inflation soared, the naira collapsed, and unemployment skyrocketed. Yet, in the same period, politicians allocated billions of naira for luxury SUVs and overseas trips.
In 2020, the #EndSARS protests revealed not only police brutality but deep frustration at social injustice. Young Nigerians took to the streets, not just to protest bad governance, but to express the anguish of living in a system where opportunity is inherited, not earned.
The discovery of hidden COVID-19 palliative warehouses across several states that same year showed the moral decay of the ruling class — food meant for the poor was hoarded while citizens starved. The elite, it seemed, had turned public suffering into private gain.
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What makes this inequality even more painful is the silence of Nigeria’s elite. Those who benefited from public schools and free healthcare in the past now build private empires and abandon the institutions that lifted them.
Even religious leaders, once defenders of justice, now dine with politicians. The pulpit and the palace have become extensions of power, not platforms for the people. Traditional rulers, clergy, and academics who should speak truth to power often choose comfort over conscience.
To rebuild this nation, the walls of privilege must fall. Nigeria must, once again, become a country where the rich and the poor can meet in the same classrooms, share the same hospitals, and walk the same roads; where leadership means service, not separation.
More than 83 million Nigerians now live in extreme poverty, according to Oxfam. The top 10 per cent of Nigerians control 32.5 per cent of the national income, while the poorest 10 percent share just 2.3 per cent. Nigeria’s Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, remains high at 35.1 per cent, underscoring how wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few.
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This is not merely a social problem; it is a national emergency. A country cannot prosper when one half lives in abundance and the other half in despair.
The solution lies in restoring equity and accountability. Public office holders should be legally required to use public schools and hospitals; the same systems they manage. This will create direct accountability and motivate genuine reform.
Nigeria must also re-prioritise spending: allocate more to education, healthcare, and job creation, and less to political luxuries. When leaders share the same experiences as their citizens, empathy replaces arrogance, and policies begin to reflect people’s needs.
Lastly, Nigeria’s greatest tragedy is not poverty but division — a moral separation that has made inequality a way of life. The elite and the masses must rediscover the sense of shared destiny that once bound them together.
To rebuild this nation, the walls of privilege must fall. Nigeria must, once again, become a country where the rich and the poor can meet in the same classrooms, share the same hospitals, and walk the same roads; where leadership means service, not separation.
Until then, we will remain what we are today: Two Worlds, One Nation.
Comrade Danlami popularly known as Baba Lawan writes from Haliru Umar Street, Dorayi Karamar Unguwar Yamma, Gwale LGA, Kano State, Nigeria. He can be reached via email: lawanmusa363@gmail.com
