Afrobeat artist and social activist Seun Kuti recently expressed his candid views on why Nigeria struggles to earn respect on the global stage.

Speaking on The Honest Bunch podcast, Kuti challenged the popular notion that Nigerians are disrespected internationally because of “Yahoo boys.” Instead, he pointed to the nation’s political leaders as the main reason.

“People say it’s because of Yahoo boys that Nigerians aren’t respected? That’s a flawed perspective,” Kuti remarked. “We all know the truth: the lack of respect for Nigeria stems from the behavior of our politicians.”

Kuti emphasized that a country’s international reputation is shaped more by the actions of its leading figures than by the behavior of a few citizens, highlighting that Nigeria’s political class bears the brunt of this responsibility.

“Nobody judges a country by the worst people in it. Every country in this world is judged by the behaviour of the best people the most prominent people,” he explained. “It is when they see the behaviour of our prominent people that they form their opinion about Nigeria.”

Watch him speak below:

Read some comments below:

@maxieuwa:”Seun too get sense like him papa.”

@babakent:”They diminish us with their existence.”

@bigstonerman:”I just watch this podcast finish Omo knowledge Dey cry 😢.”

@dhanear11:”Gone are the days when u submit cv and go fr interviews…they want everybody to be TikToker or create ur own job..Nnpc no de employ again.”

@mike_eddiison:”God bless all the kuti family. Na only them get truth for mouth.”

@itunujoe:”Dunno o but I had multi city trips last few days and everything was so demure until my final trip which was to come back home. Right from the boarding gate, out of all the gates in the airport I was departing from, the one going to Nigeria was the only one without a normal queue. Everyone just park trying to get in. I was embarrassed because it was too sharp a contrast. This has nothing to do with leaders, or yahoo boys. We were in a foreign land and we could not form a simple queue. We have a fundamental problem!”

@simonchidiarts:”🛑When do we STOP speaking to just make sense ❓❗And Start creating Systems that will Solve our Problems❓ I’ve been working on one of those SOLUTIONS ORIENTED SYSTEM . I’m tired of making sense just to be clapped for. Speaking to make sense is just BASIC – to an Advanced mind. ✌️.”

@theonlydeepoe:”True! When leaders betray their people, the shame becomes everyone’s passport.”

@youfoundamani:”You should know that regardless of what you believe God loves you and will save you from whatever turmoil is making you doubt yourself.”

@jasmifootwearcollections:”Fact bro👊🏻👊🏻 some Oloriburuku go still comment say what saying doesn’t make sense. But you are saying the truth.”