Falz’ “This Is Nigeria” And Why It Is Relevant To Nigeria Ahead of 2019

Falz

Falz‘ single “This Is Nigeria” was released over the weekend and has already gotten a lot of radio play and the music video has already gotten over a million view on YouTube within less than four days.

American rapper and music executive Sean “Diddy” Combs gave Falz a shoutout on his Instagram page. Falz’ single is inspired from the hit track “This Is America” by Childish Gambino who has received critical acclaim for the single’s conscious message about issues regarding race relations in the United States. Falz has taken that on his sleeve to make not only a good cover version but also a social conscious message about the situation in Nigeria as well.

It is three years now into President Muhammadu Buhari‘s time in office. When he assumed office, he ran on the message of ‘change’ to give Nigerians a fresh slate after 16 years of PDP rule. Three years after, things haven’t change or have gotten worse. The Nigerian economy has not recovered a lot since recession, we are still dependent on oil, conflicts within the administration and ethnic violence within the North-East and the Middle Belt. That is not to mention Buhari’s own undoing in office with his trips to Britain regarding his health and comments about youths being lazy.

"This Is Nigeria” perfectly reflects where Nigeria is right now and how much it needs to grow as a democracy. With our population growing, we have the highest number of children out of school in the world, the Boko Haram insurgency has not gone away despite comments from Lai Mohammed and Nigerians are completely fed up with the politics as the same people are still in power. Just with different political parties, changing from one party to the other. With less than a year to the general elections, politicians are already gearing up for the campaign to earn another term in office.

“This is Nigeria” is a relevant song and the music video reflects that. The music video itself speaks about the failure to rescue the Chibok Girls after three years, corruption in politics and the abuse of power, Fulani herdsmen killings, resurgence of cyber-crimes (yahoo boys/419), and the growing addiction to codeine among youths in the country. Falz also brought his comedic flair poking fun at government officials in the music video. 18 years we have been a democratic nation but are we or is it just on paper? That is not to mention other issues like kidnapping, fake pastors, etc.

For us citizens, we have to ask the parties and politicians what they actually stand for, challenging them, and being active in our politics. It’s easy for us to talk all over social media about how bad Buhari is but saying that yahoo boys put money in the economy from cyber-crimes, that puts us part of the mess as well. “This is Nigeria” is a welcome tone to the music scene and has started a conversation in what is important. That is crucial in creating a democratic nation we can be proud of.

HAPPY DEMOCRACY DAY.