The digital oracle, Wikipedia, unequivocally asserts that robbers, murderers and swindlers or deceivers are in the same category in terms of profession. The dictionary is justifying the blending of these ‘professions’ which serve as a canopy for this piece that is out to highlight the tenets of an emerging societal epidemic.
Thuggery is violence targeted at an individual, institution or society and it is capable of destabilising the atmosphere of the society. Etymologically, the evolution of thuggery and sundry crime is greatly helped by inventions, technology and expansion in population. According to Megan Garber (April, 2015), the history of thuggery does not only go back to hip-hop scene of the 1990s (Bone Thugs-n-Harmony), to Tupac Shakur and the “Thug Life” tattoo that stretched, arc-like, across his abdomen, but also to India in 1350s.
Thuggery is a psychological disorder birthed from parental and societal grooming, laziness, illiteracy, overwhelming unemployment, poverty, lack of shelter and personal effects, insecurity, political system and many more. When I was growing up in the ‘90s, my late grandfather (may his soul continue to rest in peace) would emphatically say; “When you see a lazy man, do not be scared to call him a thief! If he challenges you of what he has stolen to warrant such blackmail, then be bold to question what he has been eaten to sustain!”
It is quite incredible, but in their days, your strength is measured by your turnouts in your field and not by tapping your fingers on smart phones to swindle your “Mayee” or by carrying illegal arms to unleash terror!
Thuggery in Nigerian society has gained substantive prominence in recent decades thanks to the horrific political system, effective expansion of cultism of various confraternities, efficacy of the ungovernable transport unions (Agbero) and its poisonous importance to the continuity of constituted political authorities in the various States of the federation.
The unemployment epidemic that has been ravaging the country in recent years ultimately produced an unapologetic strand of educated thugs who posit that if their certificates and skills acquired could not earn them as low as thirty thousand Naira per month in the renowned fictional labour market, it could at least earn them three thousand Dollars each for snatching ballot boxes in polling units within thirty minutes!
Invariably, thuggery is an expansion of singularity of formation of ideas and actions. It used to be baddos in Lagos and as well one million boys. Even though the security agencies seemed to have hibernated them but the vastly scattered rubbles are still damaging at every possible locations.
Oyo and Ondo States are renowned for Transport Union’s unrest and thereby putting the citizens of the states at the receiving end. In recent time, Osun State is constantly threatened with various thuggery operations.
The State capital, Osogbo is the flashpoint where one walks carefully on the streets with heavy heart of praying to escape thuggery attacks. All these are not just magic or rocket science in its development but rather empirical traits. Thugs in Nigeria are handsomely paid to the extent that most of them send their children abroad for schooling.
Just for the skill of knowing how to unleash mayhem, you get to have all the wealth to yourself. In the month of April 2021, the US Consulate general in Lagos released a security check circular warning about the accumulated insecurity that has flooded the commercial area
of the country. The circular is not just a script but a forensic routine check on the state’s deteriorating security architecture. It is an alarm to nip in the bud the threatening insecurity that has seen to the incessant clashes among okada riders, Transport Unions and various cult groups.
Incredibly, another set of educated youth who probably are afraid to handle riffles other weapons to unleash terror are confidently “hushppup-ing” the inhabitants of the cyber space with the aid of their smart phones and laptops. However, the weapon used here is the pound of flesh or destiny of another human, as the case may be. Thanks to them, the anti-graft agents could hysterically smile to bank since the boys ensure handful salaries than their original employer. The Yahoo boys’ dexterity rails through Facebook, Hangout and other internet platforms for the purpose of nursing their purported clients with love tales or business rhetoric and to the stage of cashing out. Since it is now a permanent feature that the exchange of dollars to naira always finds its way up, a fifty dollars Amazon gift card collected from a client could go for fifteen thousand naira or more.
In fact, some “Agba Awo” are not even interested in all these petty frauds but rather create fund apps to divert funds of organizations, institutions, states and that of individuals. Cash app, Local Bank, GoBank, Green Dot, Wal-Mart and many more are weapons of the handlers.
As odd as these processes may appear, after appropriate hacking and tracking, you get to see them on the streets painting it any colour of their choice because they are in massive possession of the fiat notes and currencies. They are the baptised Yahoo boys or Yahoo plus boys. They flaunt the best automobiles, mansions, designers and most importantly, “angelic” women. The present norm in most parts of Nigerian society is the massive recruitment into this profession. No one could argue the fact that Yahoo Yahoo and thuggery are not the highest employers of labour in the country. Mothers and fathers now sign up their children for tutelage in both professions at the detriment of formal compulsory education.
We have lately woken to the realisation that these two professions are working effectively hand in hand as single entity. A Yahoo boy has money to oppress, while a thug would gladly oppress at the payment of his charges. Therefore, the society begins to be set on fire with personal and unjustifiable resentments.
On the other hand, the efficacy of Yahoo-thuggerism has given rise to the strange strand of prostitution. In the past, call girls used to hide uncomfortably at their various brothels waiting to transact business of bodily exchange. However, the coming of Yahoo-Yahoo has liberated the restricted but densely patronised profession to the elevated stage of digital prostitution in the country. This strand carefully selects its workforce within the age bracket of 16-22 years. They bill their clients who are mostly the “G-boys” to render service online or physical. The online services involve selling their nudes to those who use it online, stripping half or full naked depending on the deal of payment and many more. These and many more realities in Nigerian society have not only placed the country on the keg of gunpowder waiting to explode in matter of seconds, but also radicalised the humanity in the youth of the country and buried her dignity.
Though the solutions to all these are legibly penned within the problems identified above, in all honesty, a country that intentionally or unintentionally neglects her youth is inseparable neighbour to peril. Maybe it’s high time the major root of the problem be addressed; poor governance and inattentiveness to youths.
God bless Nigeria.
Alabi Akeem Olawale, a freelance writer, sent this piece from Osogbo, Osun State.
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