The Poor Are Not Lazy. They’re Carrying the Nation on Their Backs

For too long, Nigeria’s elite have pushed a dangerous narrative:

If you think the poor are lazy, try living one week in their shoes, then come back and talk.

Public Transport Worker, Nyanya

“The poor are lazy.”
“They don’t want to work.”
“They just want handouts.”

This is a lie.

Nigeria’s poor are some of the hardest-working people on the continent.
They wake before dawn. They labour in the sun. They build, clean, sew, cook, drive, dig, lift, sweep, and sell, often for less than ₦1,000 a day.

If anything, it is the poor who are carrying this country.

Let’s put that into perspective.

⚙️ 1. They Run the Informal Economy. The True Engine of Nigeria

The informal sector in Nigeria contributes over 60% of the country’s GDP and employs more than 80% of the workforce.

Who runs it?

• The street hawker

• The market woman

• The mechanic

• The tailor

• The vulcanizer

• The barrow pusher

• The hairdresser

These are not “lazy” people.
They are the ones keeping the economy alive despite zero support from the system.

🕓 2. They Work the Longest Hours. With the Lowest Pay

The elite may work 9–5 in offices.
But the poor? They work:

• 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

• Seven days a week

• Without sick days or pensions

And they do it in:

• Smoke

• Noise

• Dust

• Heat

• Danger

They aren’t building dreams.
They’re trying not to die poor.

🛠 3. They Build the Cities. But Can’t Afford to Live In Them

Walk into any estate, construction site, or infrastructure project.
Who’s doing the labour?

• Bricklayers

• Plumbers

• Carpenters

• Welders

• Labourers

These men and women shape skylines, but sleep in slums.
They build wealth for others, but inherit nothing.

🥵 4. They Farm Without Machines. Yet Feed the Nation

Nigeria’s rural farmers still use:

• Hoes

• Cutlasses

• Bare hands

They endure:

• Floods

• Bandits

• Middlemen

• Zero subsidies

And yet they’re the reason there’s yam, cassava, pepper, maize, and tomatoes in the market.

But what do they get in return?

Nothing but neglect and exploitation.

🚧 5. The Poor Don’t Complain. They Endure

In the face of:

• Poor power supply

• Bad roads

• High inflation

• Police extortion

• Broken healthcare

They keep moving. They keep hoping. They keep working.

They don’t strike.
They don’t riot.
They don’t loot.

They just survive, every single day, with courage that no billionaire could handle.

💬 6. What the Elites Call “Laziness” Is Just Exhaustion

Imagine waking up every day to:

• No job offers

• No social safety net

• No connections

• No capital

• No affordable healthcare

• No hope of real change

After a while, people stop dreaming. They stop planning.
They’re not lazy, they’re tired.

The weight of poverty breaks something in a person.
Yet the Nigerian poor still show up every day, trying again.

🧱 7. The Country Stands on Their Backs... And Still Ignores Them

The rich talk about “investment portfolios” and “policy reform” and “global markets.”

But who lays the bricks?
Who carries the loads?
Who sells the goods in the market stalls?
Who cleans the toilets and picks up the trash?

They do.

And for all their labour, they are:

• Underpaid

• Underprotected

• Undervalued

• Unseen

🛑 Final Word: They Deserve Applause, Not Insults

Next time someone says “the poor are lazy,” ask them:

• Could you survive on ₦3,000 a week?

• Could you wake up at 4 a.m. and work till 9 p.m. with no AC or salary?

• Could you raise a family with no health insurance, no power, no pension?

Being poor in Nigeria is not weakness, it’s strength in its rawest form.

The poor are not a burden to this nation.
They are the lifeblood of it.