Before writing this topic, I decided to browse through other similar topics that talk about the quality of life in Nigeria. And one thing that stood out for me is that a lot of these topics are written by people who are not even Nigerians.

Some of these conclusions about the quality of life in Nigeria are written as a product of statistics and surveys that were conducted online. Most of them just focus on pure numbers. I’m not going to do something like that. I am going to give you a very first-hand experience of what it means to be in Nigeria and what it means to live in Nigeria.

I am going to tell you what quality of life means in Nigeria based on five different indices that I have selected. So let’s start with the first one.

1. Education

To understand the level of development of a country, we need to look at the people and their educational level. People who are educated often tend to do well over time. The education sector in Nigeria is not well funded. It is very common for university lecturers to go on strike and refuse to work because of one demand or another.

In fact, as we currently speak, the university lecturers are currently owed three months of salary, being the money they were supposed to be paid when they went on strike. So you can imagine being a university teacher. You are owed for three months because you went on strike to fight for what you believe should be your rights. How are you going to do a good job at the school?

I understand that most state governments in Nigeria, if not all of them, perhaps have this system in place whereby education from the primary to the secondary level is largely free. But this doesn’t really encourage people, especially in the north, to go out to be educated. And the reason is not far-fetched. People who are secure are the ones who are more likely to go to school. With the recent incidences of bandit attacks, especially in northern Nigeria, who come into the schools to kidnap students and take them off to wherever, do you really think any parents will be so willing to take their children to school?

So Nigerians might have achieved a lot in terms of education, but that is really down to our diehard ability, our very brainy people. The government hasn’t really done enough to ensure that we reach half of our true potential.

2.Health care

To look at the quality of life of people, we also need to look at the health care, that is available on ground right now. The primary health care sector in Nigeria has suffered a lot of mishaps due to poor availability of resources. And also, the health care system in Nigeria is greatly suffering from the mass exodus of doctors and nurses to overseas countries where they have been better paid.

And I am not going to stand there and criticize anybody. I am not going to stand there and criticize any healthcare official who feel that they’re going to get a lot more money by leaving the shores of Nigeria. In fact, I would encourage anyone to do that.

The reason is that the ruling class all have access to good health care. And if they are sick, even for a headache, they fly out of the country to get the necessary health care that they need. The rest of us are just left on our own. We are left to buy drugs off the shelf to treat things because we can’t even go for tests in a proper hospital.

And I cannot begin to imagine what people in the rural areas go through, what pregnant women in the rural areas go through, and what kids in all those communities go through. The health care system in Nigeria definitely will reflect the kind of life or quality of life that people in Nigeria live. And the health care system, to be honest, is perhaps, at best, average. We have brilliant doctors and hardworking nurses, but have not given not enough tools to carry out their jobs.

3.Jobs/unemployment

Before we talk about the quality of life in Nigeria, there’s no how we are not going to talk about the jobs in the country. Nigeria is a country that people barely have any jobs to start with. And the people who have enough jobs can’t even pay rent or feed themselves properly, especially in recent times with the hardship that has engulfed the entire country.

If you ask the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics about job employment in Nigeria, they’re going to quote a 4% or thereabouts employment figure that shows that Nigeria has even a better employment rate than countries like the UK. But that is the biggest lie in the book. Nigerian youths are not able to easily get jobs. And even job creation opportunities by the government are not really there, or they are not paying good money.

The only people in Nigeria that are really enjoying any form of employment are the people who work in oil and gas, government-related establishments or companies, or people who are politicians. Those are really people who are benefiting greatly from Nigeria because they have access to all the money. The rest of us are left to fend for ourselves.

4. Electricity and fuel

Electricity, or energy, is a way to measure if a country will do well in the long run or not. If a country has electricity, they can power small businesses and make more money. If a country has electricity, it will help the creation of small and medium-scale businesses. But Nigeria is not the case. Nigeria barely produces 4,000 megawatts of electricity. And even a country like South Africa is doing perhaps 10 times what we are doing. So here we are, having to battle with electricity, even in the 21st century, despite the fact that we have too much money in our hands.

The other issue is the most embarrassing thing in the whole world, has to be the fuel issue in Nigeria. And Nigeria produces a ton of oil every day. But we somehow transport this oil to other parts of the country, to other parts of the world, like Singapore orJapan, where they refine those oil and then sell it back to us in Nigeria. That is one of the dumbest things in the world, by the way.

So there’s no electricity to go around the people. Fuel is not even there. And even the fuel that is there, it is super expensive. It is madness what we practice in this country, honestly. T

5. Poverty/wealth

Poverty is a big deal in Nigeria. And what we have today is multidimensional poverty. Nigeria itself, has concluded that 133 million Nigerians are poor. People are so poor that they use dung to cook and to make firewood. They don’t have access to sanitation or good health care. The government itself conducted a survey of 56,000 people and concluded that we are so poor. So you can make whatever you want from that.

Wealth. Yeah, we can have a few people in Nigeria who are wealthy and who occupy various huge establishments. In fact, the wealthiest person in Africa is in Nigeria. But it’s just a few. The wealth never circulates. It just circulates between the political class and even the business people. Those people usually have access to government money or government contracts. Or they are related to government in some way.

It is really hard to be a fully private individual and make money in this country. But that’s where we find ourselves. So in conclusion, you asked me about the quality of life in Nigeria. Well, I’ve told you about the quality of life in Nigeria is. I’m in Nigeria. I’ve been in this country. I was born here. I’m a citizen of this country. I can tell you 100% what the quality of Nigeria is. You can quote whatever statistics you want to quote. But I’m telling you what is on ground. I hope this message gets to you. I understand the full extent of what you are going to meet in the country. Thank you very much. If you have more questions, just ask me in the comment section. Thank you.

Well, personally, I have transited through the Hamad International Airport in Qatar, and I can tell you for one that Nigerians do not require a transit visa to Qatar.

However, that is not what you came here for.

You want to know if Nigeria is visa-free to Qatar, and the answer is NO.  Nigeria is not visa-free to Qatar. You are not going to be allowed to even fly out to Qatar without a visa.

Qatar and Nigeria are on two different scales.  Qatar is a much more developed country than Nigeria, so you can understand why they wouldn’t easily allow other people, not just Nigerians, to enter their country freely.

As of October 2023, Nigerian passport holders are only allowed visa-free entry into 27 countries or territories and these countries are Barbados, Benin,  Antigua, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Chad, Cameroon, Cook Island, Ivory Coast,  Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Micronesia, Mali, Vanuatu, Togo, Gambia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Niue, Niger, and Montserrat.  Those are the only places where Nigerians can enter without a visa.

Qatar, 100%, is not on the list. Nigerians are only allowed to enter just 27 countries in the world visa-free.

But then, there are other countries in the world which can issue visas on arrival and others which can issue e-visas to Nigerians.

Countries that can issue e-visas to Nigerian citizens

These 12 countries are Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Gabon, South Tomoya and Principe, Qatar, South Africa, South Sudan, Suriname, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

So you can see clearly that these countries can issue e-visas for Nigerian passport holders. But e-visas is different from being visa-free.

E-visas is also different from visa on arrival.

E-visa means that you still need to apply for the  visa, it’s just that it is a paperless visa. Nigerians can get evisa to South Africa, but it does mean we can freely walk into South Africa. Neither can Nigeria enter Qatar.

But even though they allow e-visas, it means you still have to go through all the embassy processes in order to get a visa into Qatar. It is not a free visa. An e-visa doesn’t mean that it is free. It just means it is electronic and might not require passport stamping. It might not involve physically pasting a visa page on your passport. It doesn’t mean that you’re not going to apply for one.

Countries  that Nigerian passport holders can apply to based on the visa-on-arrival package

There are 17 countries such as October 2023 that can accept this visa-on-arrival package with Nigerians. These countries are Cambodia, Ethiopia, Comoros, Kenya, Iran, the Maldives, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius,  Mozambique, Rwanda, Palau, Somalia, Tuvalu, Uganda, and Timor-Leste.

So I hope I’ve been able to answer your question. And your question is, is Nigeria visa-free to Qatar? The resounding answer is no.  You need a visa to get to Qatar, but you can get an e-visa to enter Qatar. However, I have listed countries that do not require visas for Nigerians and also countries that will give visa on arrival to Nigerians; you may check out those countries if your desire is to at least see the world.

Nigeria has a number of religions, although clearly, the Muslim and Christian religion comes top.

According to various statistics, it is well established that in Nigeria, a country of over 200 million people, about 50% of that population are Muslims. 48% of the population identify as Christian, while the remaining 2% of the population identify as other traditional religions spread across the country. Among the Yoruba people for instance, there is the Ifa traditional religion; there is sango, Ogun, yemoja, esu, and a lot of them. There are also some other religions and sects, like Eckankar and Ogboni. Also, there is a mix-up in the religious practices of Nigerians; a lot of Christians and Muslims also practice traditional religion in secret.

Religion is a very big deal in Nigeria. I can tell you that for one because I am in Nigeria, it’s normal for people to say that Nigeria pray more than they work hard.

Is Nigeria a Muslim or Christian country?

As I have said before, Nigeria is not a Muslim country, nor is it a Christian country. Nigerian society likes to identify itself as a secular country. But this secular way of life is not spread nationwide.

The northern part of Nigeria consists of mainly Muslims, although there are quite a lot of Christians among them. The majority are made up of Muslims. And the Muslim states, for example, in Borno, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kano, also exercise the Sharia law within their domain.

Such a law doesn’t give way to activities like drinking or indecent dressing, but it exists in that society. When you come towards the south of Nigeria, that is where the majority of the Christians are populated. And here, the laws are quite relaxed.

The Christian religion doesn’t have a special court that is different from the court of the federal government of the country. And decent dressing is expected, but people basically can wear whatever they like down South without any consequences.

So to the question of whether Nigeria is a Muslim or Christian country, the short answer to that is that Nigeria is neither a Christian nor Muslim country. It is just a secular society.

What are the top three religions in Nigeria?

Even though this topic has been treated in the first part of this article, it is important. I am treating it again because people tend to ask this question directly. The simple answer to this is that Nigeria has three religions or the religion in Nigeria can be categorized into three.

We have the Muslims up north, we have the Christians down south, and then we have pockets of traditional religions spread all around the country.

So these are the three religions in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the most prayerful countries in the world, perhaps second only to Afghanistan, according to statistics. Nigeria has a huge population; Nigeria has the biggest population of Muslims in Africa alongside Egypt, and Nigerian Christians have spread their wings all around the world. They built huge 100,000-capacity churches to accommodate the Christian faithful. So I hope I’ve been able to answer your question. Thank you.

Nigeria operates a federal system of government that gives power to an executive that is elected by the people.

Nigeria is comprised of 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, which is the seat of government of the country. Nigeria also has three arms of government,  the executive we also have the judiciary and we have the legislators.

Nigeria has a total of 360 House of Representatives members (green chamber) and 109 senators in the red chamber.

Is Nigeria a country or a province?

Some people have asked this question and I feel it’s time for me to delve into whether Nigeria is a country or a province.

Nigeria is an independent country of its own. It is not a province of any other country. Now the issue of the division of a country into provinces happens in some countries and I can give you a first example in China where the country is divided into 23 provinces.

It also has what it called five autonomous regions like Inner Mongolia and Tibet and furthermore, China is divided into four municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing, and also two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

That is China. China divides its land according to what it wants but Nigeria is only divided into states and there are 36 of those states and those states also are further divided into 774 local governments. So, Nigeria is not a province. Nigeria is a country. It is not a province of another country.

Under which region is Nigeria?

Nigeria is a country in Africa. It is the most populous country in Africa. It also has the biggest GDP in Africa and Nigeria is in the west of Africa. Nigeria is a West African country. West Africa is a region of Africa that is governed by a regional body called the ECOWAS.

ECOWAS has 15 member countries and Nigeria’s president of Bola Tinubu is the current head of the ECOWAS region of West Africa.

What are the three regions in Nigeria?

Upon the independence of Nigeria in October 1960, the federation was divided into three regions. We have the northern, western, and eastern regions.

Basically, the northern region consists of a group of people called the Hausas. The western region is controlled mainly by the Yorubas and the eastern Nigeria or the eastern region is controlled by the Igbos.

So, these are the three regions that exist in Nigeria. But in the modern-day Nigeria, Nigeria has been split into geopolitical zones, and not the northern, western, and eastern regions anymore.

We now have six geopolitical zones in the country. These geopolitical zones are the north-central, the northeast, the north west, the southwest, the south east, and the south-south.

The first thing I will tell you as a Nigerian is that Nigeria is not at war, but this does not tell the whole story.

There are issues that have happened in the country that will give off the feeling that the country is at war. There are quite a lot of disturbances in Nigeria because Nigeria is basically a mashup of people that do not necessarily have a lot in common, but we are mashed together on a piece of map by the Europeans.

And this amalgamation of people from different places has led to unrest, depending on what part of the country you are in. So yes, it could be said that Nigeria is at war, but also Nigeria is actually not at war. Nor at war with any other country at all today, and definitely not at war with itself.

But that is not the full story. And I will use the following subtopics to explain what is actually happenng.

The Boko Haram Menace

Nigeria is currently grappling with issues of terrorism, especially in the northeastern part of the country, occasioned by the Boko Haram Islamic sect terrorists. This group of people has an agenda, and it is to make the country more Islamic and to reject anything that has to do with Western education.

These terrorists often wage war on the country, especially on the northern borders, and the height of this was when they kidnapped hundreds of girls in Chibok. The Nigerian military has not really lived up to its expectation of bringing peace and calm to the northeast.

Boko Haram has been dealt a blow, but they have dealt us a blow as well. So if you are reading this news on the pages of your newspaper in America, Australia, Canada, or Cambodia, then it will appear as if the country is at war, because truly the images that acts of terrorism leave behind are those of a country at war.

The movement for the establishment of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)

IPOB, are a group of people who are fighting for the breakaway of the eastern region of the country to become their own country. The eastern region had a fight with Nigeria in the 1960s, spearheaded by General Ojukwu, and the war, which raged on for three years, led to the deaths of at least, perhaps, a million easterners, and they have not been able to break away since then.

But that doesn’t mean that they have not tried. They have renewed the cause for the breakaway of the eastern part of Nigeria, and this agitation has been hijacked by people, kidnappers, and bad actors who hide under the name of agitation for the eastern country to perpetrate evil.

Of recent, even a convoy of United Nations workers was attacked in eastern Nigeria, if you see such images in the pages of your newspaper in Japan, China, or Mauritania, it’s going to look as if, of course, Nigeria is at war.

The Odua People Movement

As the northern part of Nigeria rages into war, in the form of terrorism, and the eastern part of Nigeria says they want to break away, the western part of Nigeria, dominated by the Yoruba people, have also said they also want a country of their own.

The Yoruba people are also clamoring for their own breakaway, and in recent times, this has been spearheaded by a man called Sunday Igboho. But their desire to have a country isn’t because they really want to break away from the country; it is more because of the inability of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to provide adequate security for the Yoruba people, especially farmers, who are often left at the mercy of Northern herders.

It’s more of a threat than a war. There’s actually no violence. So Nigeria is not at war. Nigeria is relatively peaceful, but this doesn’t mean that there aren’t issues here and there. In particular, there have also been issues with bandits, who attack people and cause terror. But Nigeria is not at war, even though you will see images of what looks like a war-ravaged country coming out of Nigeria.

As a Nigerian, I understand that a lot of people have Facebook pages, and there’s a need for them to monetize them. While the latest Gen Z folks in Nigeria do not use Facebook as such, a lot of people, especially religious people and comedy and drama seekers, often go to Facebook every day in their millions.

There are huge Facebook pages in Nigeria, a lot of which have millions of followers and even smaller Facebook page owners. They all want to know if they can monetize their Facebook accounts.

And the short the answer is No, but this is not the whole story.

If you are in Nigeria and your Facebook account is in Nigeria, you are not able to monetize your Facebook account. The simple answer is that Nigeria is NOT among the countries that facebook have allowed for this. Now, Facebook does not have an issue with where you come from. You are not able to monetize a Facebook account because you are a Nigerian. You are just not able to monetize your Facebook account in Nigeria.

Now this difference is huge, and what it means is that if you are in Nigeria and you happen to live in one of the countries where Facebook monetization is allowed, that means that you can indeed monetize your Facebook accounts.

What if you don’t live in countries where you can monetize your Facebook account? There is still a way. As long as you have friends and families who live in other countries, you can ask them to apply for monetization for your channel on your behalf if you hand the page over to them.

Also, I know personally of a company that allows Nigerians to monetize their Facebook, and basically they help you monetize your page but you pay them 20% of whatever money you make from that page.

Now I cannot give you the name of the company because they can go bust, and since it’s not as if I am making a percentage of the deal, then there is no sense in me giving you information that I know will work but potentially might also not work. But rest assured, all the big Facebook accounts in Nigeria make use of this exact service.

So the essence of this is telling you that there are companies out there that can help you monetize your page for 20% of your earnings every month. So it is left for you to do your research and look for those companies.

Why is Nigeria not eligible for Facebook monetization?

Nigeria is the biggest market for Facebook in Africa, perhaps in a lot of the world, and the issue of Facebook not allowing Nigeria to monetize…well  we can all work out a reason why this is the case.

The problem here is that I can clearly see that this has to do with the payment infrastructure. Lack of a reliable payment system for creators. If you are in the Western world, you have access to PayPal, you have access to bank accounts that allow easier movements of US dollars into your account, but that doesn’t apply to Nigeria, where you don’t even have access to services like PayPal.

Facebook collects millions of advertisement dollars from Nigerians every year, so it’s more of a question of why wouldn’t they pay Nigerian creators some of those dollars? The only point that can come to me is a question of them having a reliable way of settling payments to creators from Nigeria.

Facebook can make the excuse of saying that some other countries are too small, then why should we bother paying their creators? But Nigeria is definitely not one of those countries.

Facebook can also claim that some other country, like China, is giving them regulatory headaches but Nigeria hasn’t given Facebook any regulatory headache ever. The only company that had issues with Nigerian government in the past was Twitter. It was never Facebook. So I hope I’ve been able to answer your question. I believe it has to do with payments settlement for Nigerian creators.