Opinion | The Info Age: Why the Fool Stays Thirsty in Abundance

By Boney Akaeze

The song, Rat Race by Bob Nesta Marley is a profound socio-political commentary on the global order shaped by capitalist imperialism as well as the prevailing political system in Jamaicaduring the time, which he regarded as decadent and tragic. The very song conveys several powerful messages through metaphors—one of the most memorable being:

“In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty.

This striking irony resonates strongly whenever we discuss the paradox of resource-endowed nations of the world whose population remain trapped in poverty despite immense wealth. However, the message conveyed by the Reggae maestro goes beyond material deprivation. The irony, as Marley suggests, is rooted in ignorance, corruption, injustice, and ultimately, poor leadership.

This article focuses on the role of ignorance in that paradox.

Today, we live in what is commonly described as the information age—a period in which the dissemination of information has become more rapid and unrestricted than at any other time in human history. Powered by the internet, information now travels almost at the speed of light through countless digital platforms and social media channels.

This revolution in information and communication has not only transformed the world into a global village, it has effectively placed the world “under the sun.” In practical terms, very little information can remain permanently hidden. Whatever remains concealed today is often hidden only from the indolent, the incurious, the undiscerning, and the intellectually complacent.

Following the Second World War, the world entered the era of the Cold War—a prolonged ideological struggle between the capitalist bloc led by the United States and communist bloc led by the Soviet Union. This geopolitical rivalry triggered an unprecedented arms race characterised by the proliferation of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and other instruments of mass destructive.

Yet, this Cold War was fought less on conventional battlefields than in the hearts and minds of people across the world. It shaped political developments in Africa, Latin America, and much of Asia—regions which became collectively known as the Third World. The British music icon, Elton John captured the emotional and human dimensions of that conflict in his classic song, Nikita.

After decades of enormous military expenditure, covert operations, proxy wars, economic strain on both the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War ended—not through missiles or bombs, but through the emergence of a new political consciousness within the Soviet Union itself.

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to office in 1985, the Soviet Union was facing deep economic stagnation, endemic corruption, and institutional weaknesses coupled with rising nationalist pressure within the Soviet republics. In seeking a way out of this troubling condition, he introduced two landmark reform policies: Glasnost(openness) and Perestroika (restructuring). These reforms dismantled many of the rigid features of the Soviet Union’s closed, authoritarian, single—party political and economic system.

For the first time in decades, and amidst widespread discontent and resentments over the prevailing harsh economic condition at the time, Soviet citizens gain greater access to information. They openly debated public policy, criticized government decisions, demanded transparency, and insisted on accountability.

As information barriers collapsed, Western media, together with newly emerging independent domestic media, exposed millions of Soviet citizens to ideals of liberal democracy, free enterprise, political pluralism, and individual freedom. A society that had long been isolated from alternative viewpoints suddenly encountered an entirely different worldview.

The result was the rise of civil society movements, pro-democracy activists, and advocates of political and economic reforms. Predictably, beneficiaries of the old order resisted these changes fiercely. Nevertheless, the forces of reforms remained resolute.

Ultimately, on December 26, 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) formerly dissolved into fifteen independent republics. The cold war ended not because the leader of the communist bloc suffered a decisive military defeat, but largely because the free flow of information fuelled civic knowledge and awakened public consciousness, and fundamentally altered political realities. Although Gorbachev’s core objective was to reform and consolidate the Soviet socialist system, his landmark policy turned out to provide the crucial catalyst that ended the Cold War and ushered in a new world order.

Unfortunately, Nigeria has yet to experience a comparable transformation.

Although social media has significantly expanded access to information, ignorance remains widespread. Many citizens continue to consume information without critically evaluating it, while others deliberately reject facts that challenge entrenched political loyalties. Nonetheless, history suggests that this condition cannot endure indefinitely.

It is a historical reality that every opaque political system eventually collapses under the weight of its own contractions.

A political order built upon exclusion, authoritarian control, discriminatory patronage, and institutional injustice is inherently undemocratic. Such a system cannot nurture the values of fairness, equity, justice, accountability and integrity that sustain stable societies.

Instead, it perpetuates a “rat race”—a politics in which both the honest, the criminals, the opportunists, the collaborators and the pretenders are all caught up within the decadent social order. A politics of conquest, domination, and possession—in which public office becomes an instrument of personal enrichment rather than public service. Under such condition, citizens become living embodiment of Marley’s metaphor: thirsty fools surrounded by an abundance of water.

On the side of the architects and beneficiaries of this destructive system, in spite of lessons of history, they seem not understand that if Nigeria continues along this trajectory, its development paradox will only deepen. Public frustration will continue to grow, and the foundations of the political system will become increasingly unstable.

History teaches that societies, like living organisms, are governed by the natural cycle of birth, growth, maturity, decline, and eventual renewal. No political order is exempt from this law.

True statesmen understand this reality. They govern with posterity in mind, consciously preparing institutions for peaceful succession and systemic renewal. Dictators and greedy leaders, however, rarely do. Blinded by the intoxicating allure of power, wealth, and personal aggrandisement, they mistake temporary dominance for permanence. History repeatedly demonstrates that such hubris ultimately precede their downfall.

Nigeria’s present political elite may flourish today, while millions of citizens continue to endure hardship amid extraordinary national abundance. Yet, the continued expansion of the Information Age makes one conclusion increasingly unavoidable: enlightenment cannot be permanently suppressed.

The day of reckoning may be delayed, but it cannot be indefinitely postponed. When a people become fully informed, they inevitably begin to question injustice, reject oppression, and demand accountable leadership.

Only then will the thirsty discover that they have always stood beside an abundance of water.

Boney Akaeze writes from Asaba, Delta State.