Despite worsening poverty and institutional dysfunction, Nigerians remain among the most generous and humane people in the world — a testament to the nation’s enduring social spirit even as governments at all levels continue to fail their citizens.
This paradox is starkly illustrated in the 2025 UN World Happiness Report, which ranks Nigeria 7th globally for helping strangers, placing it ahead of many wealthier nations in acts of spontaneous kindness and personal generosity. The report, produced by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, covers 147 countries and evaluates well-being through self-reported happiness and prosocial behaviors like donating, volunteering, and offering help to strangers.
However, beyond this glowing endorsement of Nigerians’ humanity, the report exposes a more troubling reality: Nigeria ranks 105th out of 147 countries in overall happiness and well-being — a sharp indication of the depth of dissatisfaction and hardship experienced under the country’s broken public systems.
Strong People, Fragile Institutions
What emerges is a familiar pattern: a compassionate, community-oriented people navigating life in a country where institutional trust is dangerously low and government structures routinely fail to deliver basic accountability, justice, and social support.
A simple question in the report — what happens if you lose your wallet? — paints the picture clearly:
• 33rd: If found by a stranger
• 71st: If found by a neighbour
• 126th: If found by the police
Nigerians overwhelmingly trust individuals over public institutions — a devastating commentary on law enforcement and public governance. Citizens turn to each other, not the state, for help and protection.
The report identifies this as part of a broader trend in sub-Saharan Africa where personal networks compensate for government failures. Kenya (4th), Liberia (2nd), and Sierra Leone (5th) also rank high in helping strangers but fare poorly in overall happiness and institutional trust.
Kindness Is Not Enough
The report warns that while Nigeria’s grassroots compassion is admirable and resilient, it is also a coping mechanism — not a substitute for functional systems. Helping strangers, the study suggests, becomes a vital, direct way to do good when larger structures have collapsed.
This dynamic also explains Nigeria’s lower ranking in formal charitable donations (45th) compared to its high rating for direct kindness. In a nation where public institutions are widely distrusted, Nigerians prefer face-to-face giving over channeling support through official platforms.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, one of the report’s editors, summarized the dilemma:
“Societies that rank high for kindness but low for institutional trust may struggle to scale social support beyond immediate, individual interactions.”
In other words, Nigerians are doing the best they can — but without strong, transparent institutions, their efforts cannot be transformed into sustainable national progress.
The Real Message for Nigeria’s Leaders
The findings present a clear indictment of governance in Nigeria. Citizens continue to show the world their generosity, empathy, and moral strength, even as they are betrayed by a political class that has failed to build credible institutions or deliver meaningful reforms.
What Nigerians need is not just admiration for their kindness, but action — public accountability, institutional reform, and a reorientation of governance toward service rather than power.
Until then, the story of Nigeria will remain one of a good people failed by bad systems — heroic in individual acts, but weighed down by the absence of collective justice and functional governance.
