I’ll start this piece by saying: it’s hard to survive in a country where you can do everything right and still feel like you’re not doing enough. And no place shows this better than Nigeria. We live in a country where some of the best minds and brightest talents see relocating abroad — “japa” — as the only way out. It’s a sad reality, and one that reflects a deep systemic failure. But what’s even more troubling is how this failure is reshaping people’s mindset. And that brings me to the real point of this piece.
A few days ago, a young TikTok streamer named Peller posted a video calling for applications for a photography job with a ₦500,000 monthly salary, stating that only candidates with a Master’s degree would be considered. Then he held the interview live on TikTok for his followers to watch. Whether or not he genuinely intended to hire someone is unclear, but the tone of the session suggested otherwise.
In the video, Peller spoke to the applicants rudely and mockingly. At one point, he mispronounced the word “Dudes” as “Dudus.” When one of the applicants corrected him, stating that it’s pronounced /djuːdz/, he snapped back: “You’re correcting someone who wants to employ you? You have failed.”
The video has since sparked a wave of controversial think pieces and heated debates on X (formerly Twitter). One X user wrote:
“You people are mad that BSc and Master’s degree holders are interviewing for a job with Peller. Most of you really live in an illusion. You think these people care? They just want a job, be able to pay bills and better their lives. Abi una get jobs for them?”
It’s a surface-level take that ignores the deeper issue. Nobody is blaming graduates for seeking jobs; many people are trying to survive because Nigeria is not a working country. But we can’t ignore the damaging effect of what Peller did by subjecting the graduates to likes, views, and laughter.
According to Statista, Nigeria’s unemployment rate is projected to reach 4.84% in 2025, with over 5.74 million people unemployed. Add to that the fact that Nigeria currently has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, according to UNICEF, and it becomes obvious: the country has failed both its educated and uneducated population.
So no, this is not about graduates applying for “menial” work. The real issue is how Peller approached it, with condescension, mockery, and a lack of respect for the applicants’ dignity. And that tells us everything we need to know about the society we’re building.
Because in a functioning society, this kind of thing doesn’t happen. Employers don’t humiliate people in public. Graduates don’t have to queue for jobs far below their skill level. And influencers don’t use job seekers as content for clout. More than just being a skit, the video is a mirror showing us how far we’ve fallen into a place where education is constantly mocked as useless.
Some people might say that those applicants weren’t real Master’s degree holders, and it is just for content. Maybe. But the impact of that content is still very real.
Peller has thousands of followers, many of them young boys and girls who already believe the “school na scam” narrative. Videos like this only reinforce the mindset that being loud, flashy, and rude is what earns you class and power in society, and that reading books is a waste of time. That degrees hold no real value, since Peller — an uneducated boy— can publicly humiliate Master’s degree holders just for content.
We’re witnessing the slow death of the values that hold any society together — dignity, education, and respect. And somehow, we’re laughing as it happens. But there’s nothing funny about it.
This kind of content should never be encouraged.
