The Silent Bias Nigerians Face in Web3
Nigeria continues to top the charts as one of the most active tech ecosystems in Africa.
From developers to founders, designers to community builders, Nigerians are everywhere — building, shipping, contributing.
Yet, in the global Web3 ecosystem, we are still treated like outsiders.
Imagine spending three months building for a hackathon.
Countless late nights. No shortcuts. Real innovation.
Then out of 160 submitted projects, not a single Nigerian-built project is selected.
This is not just disappointing — it is painful.
The uncomfortable truth is that location still decides opportunity in Web3, even in an ecosystem that claims to be decentralized and permissionless. Nigerians are often required to work twice as hard, explain twice as much, and still receive half the recognition.
Nigeria is already leading tech adoption in Africa.
We are early users. Early builders. Early believers.
Yet when it is time to reward innovation, we are often ignored, filtered out, or “politely” overlooked.
This needs to be addressed.
Web3 cannot continue to preach freedom while practicing quiet exclusion.
It cannot talk about decentralization while reinforcing modern digital slavery — where talent is extracted, but credit and opportunity are withheld.
Enough is enough.
If Web3 truly wants to be global, then Nigerian builders must be seen, heard, and treated fairly — not as cheap labor, not as background contributors, but as first-class innovators.
The ecosystem must do better.
