Political scientist, Professor Pat Utomi, has said that poor governance has turned Nigerians into hardworking but struggling people.

Utomi said that many Nigerians have to take on multiple jobs just to survive, but still end up with very little money at the end of the month because of bad leadership.

He posted this on X, saying that Nigerians are not lazy, but are living in a country where working hard doesn’t lead to success.

Utomi said, “Bad governance has made you work like an animal, from morning till night, carrying the burden of three jobs, yet ending the month with almost nothing to show for your efforts.”

The difference was that his work had a chance to reward him. He had one job, paid his bills, provided for his family, and still managed to save because the government of his time didn’t make survival so difficult.

“Today, you work three jobs and still can’t save a million naira.

Your father started a family in his twenties, but you are now in your thirties, unmarried, and scared of the financial burden of raising children in a world where even your own survival is uncertain.

“And yet, some people say your problem is laziness.

“No.

“You are not working less than your father did. You are just living in a country where hard work no longer leads to success. Please, for your own sake, understand what is happening to you.

“Do not confuse political failure with personal failure.

“Do not let those who have made your life difficult convince you that you are the problem.”

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Italy’s data protection authority said on Saturday it had fined Facebook owner Meta €805 million ($880 million) for accessing photos, videos and related metadata on Android devices “without obtaining specific consent and without properly informing” users.

Meta said it would appeal. A company spokesperson said Meta “strongly disagree[s]” with the regulator’s assessment and what it called “the disproportionate level of the fine”.

The penalty concerns Facebook’s gallery suggestions feature, which has been available since 2023. The feature suggests photos and videos from a user’s phone gallery that they might want to share as posts while browsing the app.

The regulator said Facebook sought a single permission to access the gallery across the app. That request followed a generic notice about enabling other features, which the authority said did not make clear that users were also granting access for gallery suggestions.

The authority said Meta must seek separate consent for the feature, clearly explain that it accesses the phone’s photo gallery and tell users how to switch it off.

In setting the fine, the regulator cited the number of people affected, estimated at around 20 million Android users in Italy, and the length of time the practice had continued. It said the infringement was ongoing for users who had not updated the app and for those who had already granted permission. It also cited “Meta’s lack of cooperation during the investigation”.

The fine amounts to roughly 0.4 per cent of Meta’s 2025 revenue of $201 billion. The company reported a net profit of $60.5 billion that year.

The penalty is among the largest imposed on a technology company by an Italian authority. In 2021, Amazon was fined more than €1.1 billion for breaching competition rules. That penalty was reduced to €752 million on appeal.

In a separate case in late October, authorities in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $25 billion over findings that it had misled residents about how it used their data for more than a decade. Meta called that record penalty a “tax” on freedom of expression.

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US officials told Congress on Thursday, November 12, that violence against Christians in Nigeria had not abated, a year after President Donald Trump again designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” (CPC) over religious freedom.

Chris Smith, chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, led a hearing to examine Nigeria’s response to attacks on vulnerable communities since the designation. He described it as a “wake-up call for Nigeria” and urged the government to protect religious believers, particularly Christians, from attacks by armed groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.

Riley Barnes, a US State Department official responsible for democracy, human rights and labour, said Nigeria had taken steps to curb the violence but that those efforts had yet to improve safety for Christian communities in the Middle Belt. “There are still rising death tolls and kidnappings. So, I think we have this posture of trust but verify,” Barnes said.

Frank Garcia, a State Department official responsible for African affairs, said the department had worked closely with Nigerian authorities to address attacks on Christian communities and hold those responsible to account. He said the violence had continued despite those efforts.

Republican Representative Riley Moore called for the US to retain Nigeria’s designation and closely monitor the country’s upcoming presidential election.

“We cannot take this CPC designation off this country. They have not done enough,” Moore said. Smith said Congress would consider what further measures were needed to curb the violence and prevent more attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria.

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