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Prince Charles Dickson, Ph.D
For just over four days my compound became a small republic at war.
Two of my dogs were fighting with a bitterness I had never seen. The older one acted as if the deed to the yard was hidden under his paws. He knew every nook and cranny and had always appreciated the younger dog’s deference. Then a little dog entered the equation and instinct prevailed over history.
This was not a ceremonial barking for the neighbors. The teeth found flesh; the dust rose. Each separation simply postponed the next assault. By the fourth day, the older dog was seriously injured and close to death. The youngest stood before him like a suitor who had discovered that age is not invincibility, then walked away as if the succession had been settled.
Then came the detail that changed the story: the younger dog was the son of the older dog. There was a time when he would not have imagined facing his father, much less doing so with such confidence.
Nigeria now finds itself within that complex.
The bitch in this metaphor does not represent femininity; she is politics and governance; the Nigerian state: desired, possessed, contested, but rarely cultivated. The older dog represents a political breed that confuses long residence with permanent ownership. The younger dog is the future generation: impatient, digitally armed and unconvinced that paternity confers an eternal right to the yard. This is a warning, not a prescription; but when an old order refuses an orderly transition, succession often comes with teeth.
My friend, Professor Chris Kwaja, recently put his finger on this future. Nigeria’s Gen Z, usually defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, is not a demographic footnote but a nation within a nation. Estimates vary by dataset, but we’re talking about tens of millions in a country whose 2025 population, according to the United Nations Population Fund, is 237.5 million. Arithmetic is patient but ruthless.
The minimum constitutional age for the presidency is 35 years. The oldest members of the cohort are 29 years old in 2026; by 2035 they will be 38 years old and eligible. A Gen Z Nigerian may not become president that year, but he will eventually sit in Aso Rock. The question is, what kind of president will Nigeria produce?
This generation carries Nigeria in its pocket. Learn across borders, earn across currencies, compare governments in real time, and record brutality before authority can prove it wrong. He has much more in his locker than the caricature admits – intellect, courage, innovation and creative daring – and he doesn’t wait for the emir, the bishop, the party president or the TV editor to grant permission to speak.
The #EndSARS uprising of 2020 showed the possibilities. Young Nigerians mobilized crowds, raised funds, coordinated social welfare and legal assistance, and took narrative power from the old gatekeepers. However, assessments of its successes and limitations suggest that leaderlessness was both an armor and a limitation: it resisted co-optation but complicated negotiation and continuity. A hashtag can open a gate; he cannot write a budget. Virality is not organization, followers are not delegates and those in power do not resign because a meme has embarrassed them.
This is where the current discussion of an “Olodo uprising” calls for more light than heat. Olodo, in popular Yoruba usage, is the donkey. The phrase captures the anxiety that digital Nigeria prizes noise over knowledge, spectacle over substance, and trust over expertise. Anxiety is not silly. When a teacher can’t pay rent while a profitable nonsense buys another SUV, the company posted a resume without calling it one. If ignorance attracts money and fame while learning attracts unemployment, why feign surprise at the lesson learned?
But using the most visible absurdities online to define a generation is a false dawn of analysis. A light ring is not a census tool. The algorithm amplifies whatever attracts attention; it does not reflect the mind of a generation. Five viral jesters can overshadow thousands of young Nigerians who write code, build payment systems, create films, conduct research, cultivate data and solve problems that the state has abandoned.
The “Olodo revolt” is not an age group; it’s an incentive system with gray-haired patrons, corporate sponsors, an educated public, and institutions that have spent decades demeaning learning. Before TikTok, public officials commissioned incomplete projects with brass bands and long grammars. Young people did not invent anti-intellectualism; they simply provided better lighting and a faster Internet connection.
The Yoruba say, Àgbà kì í wà lọ́jà, kí orí ọmọ tuntun wọ́: an old man cannot be in the market while the head of an infant remains crooked. If society has its head bowed, the elderly cannot shout “Olodo!” like innocent bystanders. Another warning says, Ọmọ tí a kò kọ́ ni yóò gbé ilé tí a kọ́ tà: the child we fail to build will sell the house we built. Nigeria has erected monuments while neglecting schools, values, civic capacity and hope. Now he fears the auctioneer who raised the bid.
However, Gen Z should not confuse demographic power with moral superiority. Youth is not an ideology. A young thief remains a thief, even in 4K live streaming. Nigeria can replace gray hair without replacing gray habits. Ethnic merchants will open TikTok stores; godparents will recruit digital godchildren. A Gen Z president might be innovative and responsible, or an old politician in sneakers, fluent in emojis and authoritarianism.
To reset Nigeria, this generation must convert attention into organization, outrage into politics, and population into electoral power. It must enter the constituencies, parties, councils, unions and communities; he must learn about budgets, federalism, security, history and compromise. The Igbo say, Nwata kwọcha aka, ọ soro ndị okenye rie nri: when a child washes his hands, he can eat with the elders. Yet the elders must stop moving the table behind candidacy quotas, rigged primaries and cronyism.
Nor are Nigerian youths post-ethnic or post-religious as romantic comments suggest. They are less deferential, but algorithms create digital tribes efficiently. The corruption reporting phone may spread a lie; the platform that mobilizes justice can organize a crowd. Digital nativity is power, not wisdom. Innovation without ethics may simply optimize corruption.
The Hausa offer a bold proverb, Kowa ya Raina tsayuwar wata, ya hau ya gyara: anyone who does not like the position of the moon should climb up and straighten it. Generation Z has long made fun of Nigeria’s bad mood. It will have to go up soon. Then he will discover that the Presidency is not a happy house, the budget is not a caption and insecurity cannot be defeated with applause. Its president must govern X Spaces and village squares, data dashboards and dusty farm paths, including millions the algorithm never sees.
Meanwhile, the remaining Mohicans of the old political order are passing, one by one, from center stage to memories, memory and history. Their wisest choice is to build bridges, not barricades; mentor without annexing; give up space without demanding that the future kneel first. As the Igbo say, Egbe bere, ugo bere: let the kite rest and let the eagle rest. Generational turnover is not necessarily war, but coexistence becomes impossible when one bird claims the entire tree.
The oldest dog in my pen survived, but survival humiliated him. The younger dog also learned that victory can leave blood on everyone. The object of their contest simply moved forward, indifferent to their injuries. Nigeria must not become that bloody compound.
A Generation Z will soon be president of Nigeria. This is not a prophecy; it is arithmetic. Whether that presidency becomes a renewal or simply a youthful solution to an ancient failure depends on what we teach, reward, and build now. The younger Turks are already inside the compound. The old race should hear their footsteps, not with panic, but with the wisdom to prepare a handover before the succession arrives with its teeth again.
May Nigeria win.
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