The Sociology of “Femi Lete Kin Tuto” -By Kehinde Oluwatosin B.

Kehinde Oluwatosin B.

Over the years I have been privileged to discuss about money both in formal and informal set ups. The conclusions in this treatise would be basically gleaned from my observations in the informal set up than the formal sector .

My focus on the informal sector hinges on the believe that the informal sector offers close to an adequate representation of the Nigerian people than the formal sector. It’s in the informal sector you find the agberòs , the pàrágà sellers, olósós, and recently part of this endless list are jobless graduates.

One notable thing amidst all the aforementioned groups everytime there is a discourse about money is that the concept of money is often discussed in the arena of wishes. Everytime there is a discussion about money amongst members of this group, you find a dominant usage of lexicons of “ifs” and “when”.

Often time you hear members in this group ask each other questions like ” if per adventure you have five million Naira today, how will you spend it? ‘ and you hear respondent first of all go into a lengthy exclamation” Haaaaaaa! Five milla, moma d’gbòro rú” and immediately he starts mentioning the cars, the clubs, the girls, the parties, the houses he wants to buy with the money.

There are other members of the group whose thoughts about money is not in the arena of “ifs” but that of “when” you hear them make statements like “when I have money, the world will hear and the heavens will know”.

My observations and interactions with the members of Nigeria’s informal set up opens a window into how the typical Nigerian is wired, the dynamics of age-long deprivation often allows the Nigerian to see money in terms of numbers rather than a store of value. That is why you are dumbfounded when you hear the kind of humongous amount of money stashed by certain individuals, that is why majority of us are always wishing than creating value that creates money.

It’s ironic that majority of Nigerians often have pre-money quest, the Nigerian often have a bevy of things to do with money even before the money comes. It’s the disconnection between money and value creating endeavours that often annihilates us from the have-not immediately we cross that poverty line, that is why a man who had no shoes at some point could not make shoes available for others who had no shoes.

It’s ironic that what majority of complaining Nigerians are looking for is money to throw around,money to earn the honorifics of ‘Baba sir’ , ‘Baba nla’ or ‘Baba o’ with two hands raised and a leg suspended in the air.

It’s because of this kind of social construct that the symbol of wealth in Nigeria across times and seasons have remained the same: protruding tummy, polygamy, brute oppression, shopping spree, randy children to mention a few.

All the books and certifications you aspire to, the evil things you do for money, the many “ifs” and “when” of money are done just to meet up with the ‘big man’s strata of the society.

It’s the disconnect between value and money in the Nigerian context that makes musicians talk glowingly about commercial music like it’s a genre of music, commercial music in the Nigerian context are hardly meaningful and if you are like me you want to ask “does a song have to be meaningless to be commercial? ” in the Nigerian context the answer is yes.

As we journey into a another election next year ,the debate has been between young Nigerians who feel Nigerian aged have not done a good job and intend to usurp the older generation of their grab of power . While such lofty ambitions are laudable, it still remain a charade for me as long as we are yet to purge ourselves from the sociology of “ayé fàmí létè kin tutó”. “ayé fàmí létè kin tutó” summarises all the encumbrances of the big man life in Nigeria, and this life is present both in the incumbent and the aspirants. Think on these things.

Kehinde Oluwatosin Babatunde is a prolific writer and a public speaker.

Email: Kehindeobabatunde@gmail.com
Twitter: @_tqatq