Why is Gen Z so greedy?

The other day I was on the WhatsApp status carousel and I stumbled on someone’s status update. Sigh… What has Gen Z done again?

The speaker in the video explained how a large population of GenZers are depressed because they are yet to achieve certain milestones that according to him, were achieved by our fathers and mothers only in their 50s and 60s. While I tried to understand the point of view of the speaker, I have always maintained an unshaken bias towards GenZers, as I am one myself. A hundred years ago, one would think the world should become a better place- all the technology, flying cars, going to space and probably time travel! But oh dear… So many innovations, but the quality of life has only dwindled.

Why are Nigerian GenZers so greedy? Why do they want cars at age 17? Why do they want to have the latest devices? Why would they rather pay for comfort? Why do they hate stress? Why do they not learn to delay gratification? Don’t they understand that no pain, no gain?

Stress kills.

The life expectancy rate at birth for the average Nigerian is 52 (+/-2) years which surprisingly has appreciated over the years… I wonder how they arrive at these data anyway. With minimum wage which was staggering at a meager N30,000 ($38) per month and recently increased to a N65,000 ($83) take home per month, the exchange rate has fluctuated significantly from about N500/$1 one-third this measly value (N1500/$1). If the average life expectancy is 52 years, does this mean that at about age 25, it would be completely normal for the average Nigerian to experience mid-life crises ?— this is just the life expectancy at birth, excluding extrinsic factors. It takes years for an individual earning minimum wage to double their salary, and that’s just before they reach the corridor of retirement. Patience is a virtue, and delaying gratification is maintaining discipline with the hopes that the reward is worthy. However, with the constant shift in the goalposts of success, winning has felt like a Pyrrhic victory. It would be sheer wickedness to advise that Gen Z depends on that same government for its formative years.

2006

Eedris Abdulkareem’s Jaga Jaga

2006, the year when Jaga Jaga by Eedrid Abdulkareem was released. Nigeria had not really been so Jaga Jaga, dollar was N130/$1 and Mr Biggs sold meat pies that were for the most part, meat. DSTV was all the entertainment a girl needed, good quality cartoons with good quality food, if only DSTV knew how much patience its scanning message was about to teach us GenZers.

DSTV scanning message

UI Zoo was packed during Christmas, it was either that or we would go back to the village/an older family member’s place during Christmas. Hearing my uncles’ baritone-laced cackles from downstairs warmed my heart (I hoped my siblings and cousins would be like that when we were older), but nothing compared to being gathered in the living room upstairs with my cousins where we would watch the Cartoon Network Christmas movie till day break, no one would bother us, except my mom (who always believed in early to bed, early to rise), but we did it anyway. There was a cow downstairs that would disappear about a day or two to Christmas, I didn’t know why it disappeared, leaving a shadow of ashes behind. One of my uncles would sing “Nigeria Jaga Jaga, everything scatter scatter”, I would laugh and he would respond ‘We ti le ma’ — You can’t yet understand. No, I actually didn’t understand.

The streets of Ibadan from Gbagi to Challenge down to Bodija were bubbling during Eid, Mummy Ridwan never spared mutton from the Christian homes that were in her housing perimeter and our house was lucky. Mummy Ridwan’s real name was probably Alhaja, because that’s what all the big people called her, and mummy said to not call big people by their names. Alhaja was very generous, she would always squeeze in new naira notes, sweets, even toys whenever we were at hers. Her gold tooth was always a mystery to me, I heard it was real gold, I wanted to ask Alhaja if it was really natural, but mummy said to be respectful, so I stared even longer to satisfy my inquisition.

What Alhaja’s tooth looked like

Alhaja’s husband was called Alhaji, he had a large belly that looked like he was hiding a pot under his long big clothing, or so I thought, until Aisha (or Ai as we fondly called her) told us that her dad actually had a belly that big. Alhaji never drove any of his three vehicles other than his Jeep, when he voyaged in his other cars, he was chauffeured, that’s how picky his protruding belly was. He would drape his jalamia neatly under his steering wheel every time he drove. Ayinla Omowura or Sikiru Ayinde Barrister would play in his Jeep, while he moved suavely to the rhythm. They had lovely three children — Ridwan, Ai and Tawakalit that went to good schools and there was always plenty of meat at theirs.

“Mummy, what is Alhaji’s job?” I asked after playing at Alhaji’s place

Alhaji had a big belly, plenty meat, a very big house, Alhaja had a gold tooth, sold beautiful clothes and they had fine children who all went to lovely schools… Alhaji must be rich!

“Alhaji works at an Abattoir, he sells meat” she responded, turning away from the steam of chicken she was boiling.

It’s 2023

It’s 2023, Mr Biggs tastes inconsistent, meat pie has more potatoes than meat, nobody watches DSTV, all the nice phone games are paid for, my cousins and uncles are scattered in countries and states, the only rooms where we get to laugh are zoom chat rooms. Netflix would replace DSTV and where it was lacking, you have to shuffle through other streaming platforms.

Eid happened like lightning, my Muslim friends probably became stingy or the meat givers live far away now. Christmas and New years are spent with family after so much pleading to be present. The little children now greet me and I am always happy to give them nice treats in return. Striking a balance seems more important than ever, and my life is entirely in my hands. I haven’t seen my siblings and cousins in a while, some months, others years.

Nigerian parents used to wonder why Americans put their elderly in nursing homes, but they would soon become recipients of the same caregiving services they spoke against. Poor them. You do not realize how bad the economy affects you until certain pleasures are now luxury, like being with family.

I like to think Gen Z is the smartest generation(affinity bias), employers have been grateful to have us on board, we are able to leverage several skills and do so much with so little. Many of us literally had to learn skills so different than we were taught in school, many have self-taught technical skills, always learning, always growing. Not school, not religion, maybe not economics, could have predicted how this generation turned out, but Gen Z has been doing well enough.

Maybe Gen Z isn’t greedy, maybe normal is now more expensive, maybe a good life is now luxury and they’re trying so hard to afford normal.

Thank you.

• Gen Z: Individuals born between 1997 and 2012
• Pyrrhic victory: A victory that was won at a cost too great to be worthwhile for the victor
• Jaga Jaga: Colloquialism for being in a state of disarray
• Ibadan: A city in Oyo state, Nigeria
• Gbagi, Challenge and Bodija are streets in Ibadan
• Jalamia: Loose fitting traditional Arab garment
• Ayinla Omowura: Apala musician (Apala is a Yoruba music genre)
• Sikiru Ayinde Barrister: Fuji musician (Fuji is a Yoruba music genre)