Interests in controlling the hopes and fears about intelligent machines have shaped imagined possibilities and vice versa. Mutually co-constitutive hopes and fears have defined the imagining of AI; hopes for a longer life, free of work, and power over others is inseparable from fears like losing identity, becoming redundant, and that AI will turn against ‘us.’ These hopes reflect deep-rooted narratives of human aspirations meeting technological possibilities.
Nigeria’s corporate existence is reliant on the peaceful co-existence of people of different ethnicities and religions. APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket and ‘win’ have broken decades of political and ethical convention regarding party ticketing, and threatens Nigeria’s ‘delicate balance’.
If violence by extra-state actors on law-abiding citizens is the unofficial answer to any and every referendum in Lagos, be it elections or protests, then perhaps the Lagos State government needs to re-examine its hold on power.
Yoruba culture, particularly traditional leadership, holds that men are superior to women, so they dominate governance at most levels while women are considered unfit to lead in most cases. On these grounds, for women to assume the position of regents, tradition demands they discard their identities.
MC Oluomo, who rose from being a bus conductor to one of the most feared political henchmen in southwest Nigeria represents a crude brand of state-backed political instruments. As the leader of the NURTW, he has over the years allegedly been at the centre of political subjugation, playing an important, albeit terrible role in shaping the politics of Lagos State.
‘I know now that stories are infinite and everywhere,’ Wana Udobang says. ‘Some stories are urgent, some aren’t, there are always new stories to tell. This is part of my liberation practice: that life is infinite.’
From pre-independence ethnic dog whistling, to pogroms, a civil war and the systemic socio-political ostracization that has since followed, the Igbo are the most discriminated ethnic group in Nigeria and ethnic bigotry against Igbo people has been on full display in the 2023 election.
At a time when restructuring is part of the national discourse, the outcome of a census will determine what restructuring could mean in the coming years. Nigeria’s development depends on our ability to get it right, or as close to right as possible.