Nigerians have berated the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for comments made regarding the disintegration of the country.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday, Mohammed was quoted as saying that a break up of Nigeria would be at the detriment of Nigerian elites adding that it’s in their best interest that the country remains united,

According to Mohammed, some elites who have attained professorial status would have to settle for working in bakeries to survive in neighbouring Togo should Nigeria split.

“Our challenge is more with the elites, not with the common people. Go to the remotest part of Nigeria today, you will see Nigerians from different tribes, culture and religion living together peacefully,” he said. “Elites ought to take the lead in cementing the unity of the country. But when the elites start preaching tribal hatred, people believe them because they think they know better.

“Nigeria accounts for 70 per cent of West Africa’s population, and if Nigeria should disintegrate today, we are going to overrun Benin Republic, Togo, Niger and other neighbouring countries.

“The elites will suffer more because some professors could be working in bakeries in Togo just to survive. We saw it happen when the Liberians came here during their civil war.

“It is in their own enlightened interest that they should work to fix Nigeria. Many of them have more than one passport — American, British, Irish — and at the first crack of trouble, they are gone.”

Angered by Mohammed’s comments, Nigerians on social media feel that it is better to work in neighbouring Togo where the atmosphere is conducive than Nigeria which is like a jungle, according to one user.

One user @ennywalter opined that ” Nigeria ministers may work in Ghana as okada men” while @kelechinwoko added that “It’s better to work in Togo in a conducive atmosphere than this jungle called Nigeria with so much insecurity sir.”

Another user, @bigvaijokotoye thinks that Mohammed’s comments echoed the fears of politicians about a disintegration of the country, he wrote, “Politicians dey fear wetin go happen to dem if d country breaks up.”

@daizybarbie added that “Out of all the troubles the country could face if it breaks up, its professors working in bakeries that is your ultimate concern. Your name has never disappointed your level of thinking and comprehension.”

Meanwhile, one user with the username @netflix_2_watch_notwatch thinks that the minister’s comment is on point. “Please don’t let Nigeria break up guys, he’s saying the truth, professors from the north might have to work in Togo bakery if this happens or Zimbabwe farms,” he wrote.

In the same vein @sublimefarm revealed that the “fear is war, only war can break us, because legislatively it is impossible, and the only option is to force it will definitely end in war, and the consequences of war, hmmmmmmmm will be cumbersome.”

But @maelstromman opposed by saying that disintegration can be achieved peacefully without war, he wrote, “we can have a referendum and south will go peacefully. Many countries have done it successfully.”