Afrobeat musician and activist Seun Kuti has sparked conversations with his frank take on why Nigerians are not respected on the global stage.

Speaking during an appearance on The Honest Bunch podcast, the saxophonist dismissed the popular belief that the stigma comes from internet fraudsters, commonly referred to as "Yahoo boys."

According to Kuti, the real reason lies with Nigeria’s political leaders.

“Oh, because of Yahoo boys, they don’t respect Nigerians?” he asked
rhetorically.

“This narrative we accept about our society is wrong. We know fully well that the only reason nobody respects Nigeria is because of our politicians.”

The outspoken artiste stressed that a nation is not judged by its worst elements but by its most prominent figures.

In Nigeria’s case, he argued, the global community shapes its opinion based on the actions and behaviour of the country’s leaders.

“Nobody judges a country by the worst people in it. Every country in this world is judged by the behaviour of the best people—the most prominent people,” Kuti explained.

“It is when they see the behaviour of our prominent people that they form their opinion about Nigeria,” he continued.

His remarks have ignited reactions online, with many Nigerians agreeing that the country’s global image has been tainted more by corruption, poor governance, and the conduct of its leaders than by the actions of a few individuals.

See some reactions below

@prince3kg___"Finally this guy keep making sense am glad he seeing clearly"

@itunujoe___"Dunno o but I had multi city trips last few days and everything was so demure until my final trip which was to come back home. Right from the boarding gate, out of all the gates in the airport I was departing from, the one going to Nigeria was the only one without a normal queue. Everyone just park trying to get in. I was embarrassed because it was too sharp a contrast. This has nothing to do with leaders, or yahoo boys. We were in a foreign land and we could not form a simple queue. We have a fundamental problem!"

@obinnanwokoma___"Thank God, u no Call Peter Obi and the obedients for This Clip……"

@igstonerman___"I just watch this podcast finish Omo knowledge Dey cry"

@leeroyafrika___"Corruption isn’t the problem, ideology is. Focusing on corruption is band aid on a knife wound."

@dhanear11___"Gone are the days when u submit cv and go fr interviews…they want everybody to be TikToker or create ur own job..Nnpc no de employ again"

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