“Lagos People Are Over-Wise” — Skit Maker Peller Heaps Praise on Uyo Roads, Says They Put Lagos to Shame
Skit maker Peller has praised Uyo roads during a visit to Akwa Ibom, saying Lagos people are "over-wise" while other states deliver better infrastructure. Read the full story and reactions.
Popular Nigerian skit maker and social media personality Peller has sparked a fresh wave of online debate after comparing the roads in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, favourably to those of Lagos — boldly declaring that Lagos residents have a habit of talking big about their city while other states quietly deliver better infrastructure on the ground.
The comment came during a visit to Akwa Ibom State, where Peller was filmed touring parts of Uyo and visibly impressed by what he found beneath his wheels. In a video that quickly made its rounds across Nigerian social media platforms, the content creator praised the condition of the roads, noting that they were smooth, well-maintained, and refreshingly free of the potholes that have become almost synonymous with driving in Lagos. He did not hold back in making the contrast explicit.
“Lagos people are just over-wise, but when it comes to roads, other states have more beautiful roads with no potholes,” Peller said, delivering the verdict with the casual confidence of someone reporting a firsthand experience rather than making a theoretical argument. The statement was simple, direct, and — for a large section of Nigerians watching — deeply relatable.
The reaction online was swift and, as is typical of anything that touches on the Lagos versus the rest of Nigeria conversation, immediately polarising. Fans of Peller and residents of Akwa Ibom celebrated the comment as a long-overdue acknowledgement of the infrastructural investments that successive governors of the state made in developing Uyo into one of the most well-planned and aesthetically considered capital cities in the country. Many were quick to point out that Uyo’s wide roads, structured layout, and clean aesthetic did not happen by accident — they were the product of deliberate governance choices that prioritised liveable urban spaces.
Some commenters, particularly those familiar with the legacy of former governor Godswill Akpabio’s tenure in the state, credited that era of leadership with laying the physical foundations that still make Uyo stand out among Nigerian cities. “This is Akwa Ibom state. I hate to admit it, but Akpabio did well as a governor when it comes to infrastructure in that state,” one user wrote, in a post that drew widespread agreement.
Lagosians, predictably, did not take the comparison lying down. Defenders of Nigeria’s commercial capital pointed to the sheer scale and complexity of Lagos as context that comparisons to Uyo conveniently ignore — arguing that governing a megacity of over 20 million people, with the density, economic pressure, and migration volumes that Lagos handles daily, is a fundamentally different challenge from managing a far smaller state capital. “Can anyone mention one part of Lagos that is not developed and overpopulated? This Uyo — I’m sure if you leave the capital, you will hardly find a place close to Mushin in development,” one commenter responded, drawing chuckles and counter-arguments in equal measure.
There is, however, a layer of irony beneath Peller’s praise that longer-term observers of Akwa Ibom’s urban story have been quick to note. In recent months, a growing chorus of Uyo residents has raised serious concerns about the deteriorating state of the city’s infrastructure — pothole-riddled roads in several parts of the capital, neglected public spaces, and dead fountains that once served as proud symbols of a well-ordered city. The question of whether Peller encountered Uyo at its best or whether his comparison was shaped by visiting the more carefully maintained parts of the city is one that residents themselves are debating with varying degrees of frustration and pride.
What Peller’s video has done, regardless of the complexity behind it, is reignite a conversation that Nigerians are clearly never tired of having — which state is actually doing the most for its citizens, and whether Lagos’s dominance of the national narrative is truly earned or simply the result of loudness and population size. It is a debate with no clean resolution, but it is one that, every time someone drives through a smooth road in a state that Lagos tends to overlook, gets a little more interesting.
see video here…
Lagos people are just over-wise, but when it comes to roads, other states have more beautiful roads with no potholes.” — Peller says as he tours Uyo, Akwa Ibom. pic.twitter.com/7DseGWpBEy
— YabaLeftOnline (@yabaleftonline) March 14, 2026
