Who is Truly the Enemy of Nigeria

Nigeria’s greatest enemies are not external forces, foreign conspirators, or abstract historical misfortunes, they sit comfortably within the nation’s leadership, and operate confidently in the corridors of power. This is not a claim rooted in emotion, but one grounded in patterns of governance that have persisted for decades. The tragedy of Nigeria is not a lack of knowledge about what to do, it is the deliberate refusal to do it.

Those in power in Nigeria know exactly what makes nations work. They travel abroad, educate their children in functional systems, seek medical care in countries with working health infrastructures, and invest their private wealth in economies governed by law, transparency, and accountability. They understand the value of electricity, security, efficient institutions, independent courts, and merit-based governance, yet they return home to preside over dysfunction with chilling consistency. This contradiction is the clearest evidence that Nigeria’s problem is not ignorance, but intent.

A functional Nigeria would threaten the current power structure. When institutions work, individuals become less powerful, when laws are enforced, impunity collapses, when systems replace patronage, godfathers lose relevance. Many within the corridors of power thrive precisely because Nigeria does not work. Chaos becomes capital, poverty becomes leverage, weak institutions become tools of control. In such an environment, loyalty is purchased, not earned, elections are managed, not contested, and governance is reduced to survival of the connected.

Corruption in Nigeria is not accidental, it is organized. It is sustained by deliberate policy failures, selective law enforcement, and the weaponization of state institutions against perceived enemies, while allies enjoy immunity. Files disappear, cases drag endlessly in court, and anti-corruption rhetoric is used as a political weapon rather than a moral commitment. If corruption were genuinely confronted, many powerful figures would not survive politically, socially, or legally.

The economy follows the same pattern of deliberate sabotage. Nigeria knows how to diversify, industrialize, and empower local production. Policies have been written, experts consulted, and solutions clearly mapped out, yet nothing changes because economic reform threatens entrenched interests that profit from import dependence, subsidy fraud, and currency manipulation. A productive economy reduces dependence on political patronage, and dependence is the oxygen of bad leadership.

Education and healthcare suffer the same intentional neglect. A well-educated population questions authority, a healthy population resists exploitation. So public schools decay, while private alternatives flourish for the elite, teaching hospitals collapse, while officials fly abroad for treatment. The message is unmistakable, the state has no intention of serving the people, it expects them to fend for themselves.

Worse still is the dangerous silence of those who should speak. Many who understand the truth have benefited from corrupt money, compromised their conscience, and chosen comfort over courage, their silence has become an enabler of national decline.

Nigeria is not broken beyond repair, it is being deliberately restrained. The systems that would make the country work already exist, what is missing is the will to allow them function without manipulation.

The painful truth is this, Nigeria will start working the moment those in power decide that the country matters more than their privileges. Until then, the real enemies of Nigeria will remain firmly seated at the table of power, well-fed, well-protected, and fully aware of what they refuse to do.

Nze Ukwu Ugezu J. Ugezu Writes 

[Ayaka Igbo Gburugburu]