In 2024, De Renaissance Patriots, a socio-cultural organisation of prominent Lagosians advocating for the emancipation of indigenous people in Lagos, raised concerns over their marginalisation in the governance of the state.
By Seyi Clement
The group examined this phenomenon from a socio-economic perspective and sounded the alarm over what it described as the systematic and deliberate exclusion of Lagos indigenes from political leadership. It argued that power has been transferred to non-indigenes, who, in turn, have used their influence to further alienate native Lagosians from the state’s political structure.
The group was too polite, too cautious, and too politically correct to call this phenomenon by its true name—colonisation.
Curiously, this insidious form of colonisation is not being perpetrated by people from the North, South-South, or South-East but by fellow Yoruba from the South-West. That this marginalisation is orchestrated by kinsmen does not make it any less unacceptable. In this article, I explore the wider implications of this so-called colonisation, particularly its impact on the health and well-being of indigenous Lagosians.
The detrimental effects of the political and economic exclusion of a people are well-documented. Extensive research in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand has demonstrated the negative consequences of such marginalisation.
Studies have shown that political and social disenfranchisement significantly contribute to high rates of alcoholism and suicide among Native Americans in the U.S. and Aboriginal Australians. Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Indian Health Service indicates that the suicide rate among Native Americans is seven times higher than the national average. Depression and anxiety are also more prevalent among Native American youth compared to their peers in the general population.
Similarly, a study by Fred Beauvais, published in the National Library of Medicine, titled “American Indians & Alcohol,” attributes the high prevalence of alcohol and drug misuse among Native Americans to various factors, including their exclusion from political decision-making regarding their own affairs.
Comparable research on Indigenous Australians has drawn the same conclusion, linking high rates of mental illness, alcoholism, and drug abuse to social and economic marginalisation.
While the full impact of the marginalisation of indigenous Lagosians may take time to manifest on the same scale as the historical exclusion of Indigenous peoples in the U.S. and Australia, the warning signs are already evident. Alcoholism and drug abuse are on the rise among youths in various parts of Lagos.
This is a clarion call for all Lagos indigenes to stand up and reclaim their rightful place in the governance of their state before it is too late. If left unchecked, the disillusionment of future generations may lead them down a path of self-destruction, lost heritage, and diminished self-determination.
Clement is a lawyer and polical analyst
