After observing a simple gentleman seated in the restaurant, a proud man felt challenged and decided to spite the supposed rival. In order to prove he was better and richer, he ordered expensive drinks and meal for everyone except the gentleman. Instead of feeling angry, the handsome gentleman kept smiling as he sipped his coffee while pressing his calculator. Feeling frustrated and inquiring about the gentleman, the proud man was told that the simple gentleman owned the restaurant.[1] By calling for a social reorganization for productivity and encouraging the competition on local patronage, Nigerian beautiful ladies will provoke productivity in Nigeria.
‘Pepper-them’ is a new language among Nigerian beautiful ladies for using their affluence and success to intimidate other ladies. They obtain and display expensive phones, bags, clothes, jewelleries, shoes, cars, houses, vacations and other luxuries to ‘pepper’ their rivals. While they pepper their rivals by purchasing and displaying these materials, the producers make more profits from their competitions. Unfortunately, most producers of these materials are foreigners, who send the profits back to their countries while we compete. If Nigerian beautiful ladies support their men’s demand for access to Nigeria’s mineral resources for productivity, their ‘pepper-them’ competition will benefit Nigerians. Then they will gladly encourage Nigerian beautiful ladies to ‘pepper’ one another with their Bobo’s products, while increasing their wealth.
Understanding the Nigerian realities is necessary to appreciate the importance of this role for Nigerian beautiful ladies.
Nigeria is a country of several dissimilar groups and kingdoms brutally joined together by British colonialists[2][3] for economic exploitation.[4] Using military force, British colonialists extracted and exported Nigeria’s natural resources to their industries, while Nigerians depended on their products. At independence, they replaced themselves with loyalist-politicians and military to sustain the supply of Nigeria’s resources to their industries.[5] Using military, Nigerian government seizes and cheaply auctions[6][7][8] the mineral resources to former colonialists for foreign money and products. This is why many intelligent Nigerians cannot obtain resources for producing what Nigerians need, instead of depending on importation.
To retrieve access to mineral resources for research and productivity, many Nigerians call for resource-control and political restructuring. However, some politically-connected people, who benefit from the foreign exchange and structure, support any government that opposes restructuring and resource-control.
Nigeria has so much mineral resources (solid, liquid and gaseous), but Nigerian government focuses on petroleum resources. The focus on petroleum resources results from its demand by former colonialists and other industrialized nations to power their industries. The government seizes the other solid minerals and begs industrialized nations to buy the resources needed by Nigerian engineers. Eventually, the government distributes compensatory funds as salary and allowances to few Nigerians as justification for seizing all Nigeria’s mineral resources. Of course, this distribution only happens after they have reserved enough funds for themselves and their Nigerian beautiful ladies.
Though they often appear materialistic, many Nigerian beautiful ladies are eager to contribute to the greatness of their country. They are not proud of the risks and dehumanization in foreign lands as they try to escape poverty in Nigeria. They are not proud to abandon young Nigerian Bobos who love them but lack access to resources for productivity and sustenance. They are not proud to date married men, ancestors and ‘Aristos’ who confiscate and auction Nigerians’ opportunity for productivity. But since humans live on material food, not just promise of love, they succumb and defend it, just to survive.
Now, they can join their voices to their men’s voices for the retrieval of access to mineral resources for productivity and peppering.
[1] Story was adapted from an anonymous WhatsApp broadcast
[2] Ogban Ogban-Iyan, Re-inventing Nigeria through Pre-colonial traditions, in Issues in contemporary political economy of Nigeria, (ed.) Hassan A. Saliu. (Ilorin, Sally & Associates, 1999). P77
[3] cf. Richard Dowden, Africa altered states, ordinary miracles. (New York: Public Affairs, 2010). p.445
[4] Cf. Walter Rodney, How Europe underdeveloped Africa (Abuja: Panaf, 2009). P.293
[5] Cf. Walter Rodney. Op. cit.
[6] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 2
[7] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 2, paragraph 1
[8] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 3
