Prominent social commentator, Muhammadu Buhari, has criticised Nigeria’s patronage-driven employment culture, saying elected officials, particularly legislators, should not be seen as distributors of jobs.
In a Facebook post shared on Wednesday, Buhari stated that turning politicians into job-offer generators represents a distortion of governance, stressing that “they are meant to legislate, to provide oversight, to hold power accountable.”
He decried what he described as the collapse of merit in public and civil service employment, blaming an unhealthy culture in which jobs are handed out as favours rather than earned.
“We’ve reduced both public and civil service into an incompetent space, sustained by an even more incompetent and irresponsible employment culture,” he wrote.
Buhari said the expectation that politicians should provide jobs underscores a broader national failure, adding that such practices show “how unserious we’ve become as a nation.”
While acknowledging systemic failures and widespread unemployment, he said he was often puzzled by young people seeking jobs through influence.
“I have never found anything dignifying or admirable about begging for what should be competed for,” he stated.
He, however, offered encouragement to unemployed youths, urging them to focus on self-development.
“May you grow more competent, more confident, and more prepared not out of pity or connection, but because you truly deserve them,” Buhari added.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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