Empowering Nigeria With Web3: Exploring Autonomy, Cryptocurrency, and DAOs as Pathways to Prosperity

Nigeria!

Giant of Africa, as she is fondly called.

It is the most populous black country in the world, with over 200 million people, a teeming youth population, and over 50% aged from 15 to 60 years. That's about 100 million, mostly tech-savvy young people all over the internet struggling to wrest some money from the famed riches of cyberspace. It's no wonder the country is well known for internet fraud, with a world-famous fraudster from Nigeria named Hushpuppi recently jailed by the US government for swindling numerous Americans off millions of hard-earned dollars. While internet fraud has cast a bad light on Nigerians online, this single story must not be allowed to take root, however, because Nigerians have also found ingenious ways to use the internet constructively with world-reaching effects.

For example, Nigerian comedians are well recognized in the content creation industry with many well-know ones like Mark Angel, Emmanuela, Sabinus etc. having millions of followers from around the world whom they routinely entertain. Nigerian music has also dominated the global space in recent years, with the internet playing a critical role in this rise. Nigerian music has dominated Africa since the 2010s, but recently, Nigerian artists like Burna Boy, Rhema, and Ckay have released colossal global hit songs like Last Last, Calm down, and Love Nwantiti, respectively, reaching hundreds of millions and even billions of streams. This was only made possible through online streaming and video platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and TikTok.

A relatively recent technology known as cryptocurrency has hit the internet, and Nigerians have not been left behind. The country was recently ranked second in crypto adoption around the world. This, of course, can be traced back to the country's relatively backward financial system, with Nigeria recording numerous economic crises over the years. A particularly crazy financial crisis happened just before the 2023 elections in the country, where the Nigerian Naira was not even available for people to withdraw. Basically, there was little cash in circulation, and protests erupted in Banks, with people demanding to withdraw the money they had deposited so they could handle day-to-day expenses. This cash shortage lasted for several weeks, and millions of Nigerians began adopting alternative financial systems for Nigerian banks. Through this crisis, a little-known Crypto trader in the country known as Blord would rise to fame and fortune by introducing an app for financial transactions that completely circumvented the Nigerian banking system. Blord would also go on to introduce a crypto exchange company called Blord Group in the country to convert cryptocurrency to Naira. Many Nigerians adopted Cryptocurrency during this financial crisis.

What you should know about Nigeria is that even though it is a very gifted country with lots of natural and human resources, it is run by a very corrupt government with notable ethnic biases. This has created widespread poverty in the country, with most of the gigantic 200 million people in the country left to fend for themselves anyhow they can. But the youths have taken up Agency as autonomous individuals battling against classist and ethnic divides, plus a corrupt, powerful government with dictatorial tendencies to create comfortable lives for themselves as sovereign entities who would not meekly surrender to a British-imposed country that seems determined to keep them down. This Nigerian dream has united beautifully with the vision of cryptocurrency, which basically serves as a democratized financial system that will create a level playing field for anyone around the world to make money. This article dives deeper into the possible role of autonomy, Crypto, and DAOs in getting Nigerians out of poverty.

Tribalism and Classism in the Nigerian Government

Nigeria is a multi-ethnic country with about 250 different ethnic groups. However, there are three main ethnic groups by population: the Hausa-Fulani in the Northwest, the Yoruba in the South West, and the Igbo in the South East. These three ethnic groups have dominated the government of the country since it gained independence from the British in 1960. However, a bloody civil war was fought in 1967, with the Igbo of the Eastern region trying to break away from the country due to an ethnic crisis. The Igbo lost the war and have never produced a president to date, with the Mostly Muslim Hausa Fulani dominating the government at that time. Hence, there's a lot of ethnic discrimination in Nigerian politics with the Igbo, who number up to 40 million, and other Christian groups, with tens of millions of people mostly kept away from the presidency of what is supposed to be a democratic country. This discrimination in government has far-reaching economic impacts as the government of the day often favors their region in resource distribution. So, Nigerian Christians are often at a political disadvantage.

Classism is another major factor in Nigerian politics, with the mega-rich corrupting the voting system with their money and routinely rigging elections to maintain their hold on power and maltreat the poor (who are the majority) however they see fit. Hence, poor people in Nigeria who bear the brunt of the suffering hardly have a way to fix the country since their votes may not even count. This has led to a lot of crime around the country, with fraudsters, kidnappers, cultists, and sex workers being rampant.

Nigerian Government Versus Autonomy

The Nigerian government, through a federal system like the American government with executive, legislative, and Judiciary, does not practice true federalism. Simply put, the executive, who is led by the president, is too powerful, and through widespread corruption, they can control the lawmakers and judiciary, who are supposed to checkmate their excesses. This is also true for the state and local governments, who are often arm-twisted into doing the will of the federal government because the federal government has overall control of resources in the country. Hence, the Nigerian government is often anti-autonomy!

Many groups have risen in the country to demand more autonomy and resource control at the regional level, but the federal government usually puts them down by force. This is mostly against the will of the people who always find ways to fight against the tyrannical control of the federal government. Basically, Nigerians want more autonomy to utilize their resources for a better life, as the federal government doesn't seem capable of delivering basic amenities like good roads, running water, and electricity. This has remained a constant cause of conflict in the country, with many lives lost.

Nigerian Government Versus Wealthy Citizens

As with any tyrannical system, the government in Nigeria seems determined to keep the people poor; hence, they are unable to fight for their rights. This is more rampant in the North, where millions of children are out of school despite hundreds of millions of Naira being allocated to education yearly. [Nigerian minimum wage](https://nigerian minimum wage), as at the time of this writing, is a meager 30,000 Naira (about $22) for a full month. That's way below the minimum wage in most countries and has made Nigeria a poor country for about a hundred years of its existence now. This is, of course, a deliberate act of corrupt politicians who prefer to cart away huge sums of money from budget allocations while leaving the people to fight for scraps. Hence, the people are kept poor and uneducated, so they can't really do much against these wealthy leaders who keep impoverishing them. A wealthy, educated population will, of course, be quite difficult to swindle as you please.

Nigerian Government Versus the Internet

During the Coronavirus crisis, Nigerians were locked up at home like others around the world, and palliatives released by international groups to ease the suffering of Nigerians were hoarded in several warehouses instead of being distributed to the people. Also, police personnel in the SARS unit went on a rampage, harassing tech-savvy Nigerian youths who were making money from the internet as fraudsters without much investigation. Nigerian youths responded by protesting on Twitter using hashtags and proceeded to coordinate themselves and break the curfew into a real Nationwide Street protest that came to be known as the #endsars protest. Millions of Nigerian youths took to the streets around the country and gained global coverage. Also, secessionist groups like IPOB, who were clamoring to break away from Nigeria, used online platforms like Facebook and Twitter to gather and communicate with millions of followers. The Nigerian government then effectively responded by banning Twitter in the country but soon canceled the ban after it failed, as citizens were using VPN apps to circumvent the ban. Hence, the Nigerian government has tyrannically tried to suppress the internet in Nigeria without regard for the millions of people who have found employment online.

Nigerian Government Versus Crypto

Expectedly, the Nigerian government has not reacted very well to Cryptocurrency technology in the country, though the people have welcomed the decentralized finance system with open arms. Crypto has been banned, unbanned, and banned again in the country as the government tries very hard to clamp down on global crypto agencies like Binance. Even the earlier mentioned millionaire crypto trader in the country (Blord) was arrested and charged with internet fraud even though he was able to come out victorious. The government predictably hates Crypto as they can't really control it. They complain that terrorists and fraudsters use Crypto for financial transactions though they've not really done much about the corrupt politicians who use the actual banking system in the country to loot Country funds. Crypto has created jobs for many Nigerian youths who work online as crypto traders, forex traders, software developers, writers, content creators, etc., and earn decent wages from foreign customers.

The Role of Autonomy, Cryptocurrency, and Daos in Potentially Lifting Nigerians From Poverty

1. Autonomy: With the country divided between several tribes and two major religions (Christianity and Islam), tribal and religious sentiments have often been used by malicious politicians to keep Nigerians fighting against each other and refuse to unite in fighting against the corrupt leaders who are the real problem. Tribal and religious crises often mar Nigerian elections to the benefit of politicians who capitalize on such crises to rig elections and discriminate in government. Also, leaders who steal often defend their tribesmen from anybody who may try to prosecute them. This is a huge problem in the country, with many jobs and industries often being based on tribe instead of qualification.

   
   

   To solve this fundamental problem, Nigerians must start thinking of themselves first as individuals instead of as members of a tribe or religion. They must prioritize their welfare as citizens in voting and making other electoral and job related decisions in order to get competent leaders and office holders who will transform the country. Regional autonomy must be prioritized over the current seemingly unworkable "federal system" which has only created much infighting.

   
   

   Autonomy is critical to the development of Nigeria!

2. Cryptocurrency: When Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin, he was trying to create a decentralized financial system that would make financial opportunities fairly available to everyone around the world instead of to just a few members of the elite class who capitalized on the unfair legacy centralized system to get ahead of the rest of the population. Such a system is sorely needed in Nigeria, where inequality is even worse from widespread poverty and illiteracy. Many Nigerians use mobile phones, and with a little knowledge of Cryptocurrency, they can invest and get out of poverty without having to depend on a government that doesn't really seem to care about them.

   
   

   Cryptocurrency could be the best opportunity for Nigerians to benefit from the financial system.

3. DAOs: Many Nigerians have never really experienced a free and fair election in their lifetime. This is due to widespread electoral malpractice that seems to have become the norm. Just like Twitter, which provides a global voice for the Nigerian people, which the government cannot forcefully shut down, DAOs will provide an even more decentralized platform for Nigerians to unite, organize, plan, and execute digital infrastructure for the good of the country. DAOs will allow Nigerians to practice democracy and governance in a free and safe virtual environment for education and networking purposes. Also, DAOs will allow Nigerians to influence the development of Web 3 to enable the developers to come up with software that is better suited to the Nigerian environment.

   
   

   DAOs will provide a more sophisticated, unstoppable cyber voice for Nigerians around the world.

Conclusion

Nigerians have been held down by a corrupt, tyrannical government that seemingly would prefer to keep the people divided, poor, and uneducated. However, the Web 3 vision of democratizing the Internet and financial system is in complete opposition to such a system. With crypto concepts like autonomy, individualism, and sovereignty encapsulated in DAOs, Nigerians have a global technological movement they can leverage to come out of the country's economic crisis. Auth Labs is a groundbreaking DAO technology that Nigerians (and anyone around the world) can use to opt out of a corrupt leadership system that doesn't really represent them.