Femi Kuti was on Austin City Limits last night. During the interview segment ACL Producer Terry Lickona asked, “What’s going on back in Nigeria today?”
Here’s the beginning of Femi’s answer:
The situation is horrible, because there are too many poor people. The government tells a lie, a lot of lies in the press pretending that things are all right. But people can’t afford a good eduaction. People can’t afford to eat. We still have no lights. My father complained about this since the 70s. Way back in ’74. We still have no lights. Many places don’t have water. People are just completely down. If you go to any of the embassies, the French, English, American, everybody is trying to get out of the country, everybody is looking for a better life outside Nigeria. All the doctors are leaving, the lawyers, everybody is leaving Nigeria. The govermnment is so corrupt, the country is so corrupt, to find an honest Nigerian is so difficult. Not because the people want to be corrupt these days, but becasue it’s so difficult to survive, you have to be corrupt.
I encourage you to visit the PBS website and listen to the remainder of his words. He says he doesn’t believe he will live to see the day that Africa pulls out of the mess it’s in, but he keeps fighting for justice with the hope that his son will.