Peller is a popular Nigerian influencer. Along with his girlfriend, Jarvis the robot girl, the boy - Habeeb Hamzat Adelaja by name - has taken the Nigerian social media scene by storm. Personally, I confess that their outrageous antics make them come across as juvenile delinquents sometimes but they still get me to pause and watch their videos from time to time, no doubt contributing to their massive earnings with my precious data - but I no go lie, I need the entertainment occasionally.
Well, last week Peller sparked more controversy after advertising a ₦500,000-per-month cameraman job that only candidates with Master's Degrees could apply for. Guess what? He attracted a crowd of highly qualified applicants, including at least 20 with master's. The video drew mixed reactions with many expressing pity for the applicants who had to ‘lower themselves to that level’ as well as frustration with Nigeria’s education system and job market. Others mocked the interviewees for their ‘desperation’.
One can understand, even if one disagrees, with critics who felt bad when he streamed part of the interview process, showing these highly educated persons presenting themselves in line for his kind consideration. Note that Peller has not publicly disclosed any formal academic qualifications beyond secondary school, much less a university degree. He has occasionally described himself in interviews as ‘self-taught’ in photography and digital content production - but those are not the paper qualifications people with that fixated mindset want to see.
The Guardian reported how one participant, Nkese Eyo, accused Peller of exploiting her by using the interviews as content. Eyo, who is a content creator herself, however claimed he made jokes about her ethnicity and body size - so she might have a different axe to grind with the young man. In response, Peller defended the process as a genuine recruitment effort, announced that two candidates had been selected and argued that critics should focus on systemic economic failures rather than targeting him personally.
I don't know about the alleged ethnic profiling and body-shaming (and I'll leave both content creators to sort that one out) but I do agree with the boy that he didn't overstep legal bounds - even though, smart businessman that he is, he has effectively added them to his revenue stream every time somebody clicks on that video - whether now or in a decade.
The entire incident places a spotlight on the severity of unemployment among educated Nigerians, but it also stirred up the perennial discourse on livelihood versus the dignity of man, especially the question of whether any job that helps you make an honest kobo should be dismissed as undignifying? It also raises emerging ethical issues as social media achieves increasing importance as a GDP item in Nigeria. For example, what's the legal position if an influencer combines hiring processes with viral content creation?
Since the furore erupted, I still haven't been able to understand why applying and attending an interview for a ₦500,000-a-month cameraman role with a wealthy celebrity should cause large numbers of Nigerians to melt down online. Is it that Peller is too young, too loud or too proud? Or is it, ‘how dare someone without a degree, albeit a wealthy celebrity, ‘demean’ Nigeria’s precious educated force by offering them what some see as a ‘menial’ job - even though it pays higher than many ‘professional’ positions? Plus, what is wrong with anyone, regardless of educational attainment, taking a job that pays them better than most for their skills?
Let’s start by acknowledging the uncomfortable truth that there is a growing gap between learning and earning, and it is not unique to Nigeria. It’s happening everywhere. While some are busy debating whether a cameraman’s role should be beneath a postgraduate, thousands of new lawyers are graduating every year into a labour market that cannot absorb them. Last week alone, about 4,500 young Nigerians were called to the Bar, with another set of graduates waiting to join them in a month or two.
This has been the reality for over a decade. It’s similar in engineering, accountancy, banking - any field you care to mention. I suggest that before we rush to dismiss the entire episode as insulting and undignified, perhaps we should pause to ask ourselves: What does it really mean to have dignity in labour? Is our collective sense of what educated people should do with their lives helping or harming us in a country where even the most prestigious professions are drowning in oversupply?
I am of the firm belief that the greatest barrier to wealth is often not the education system, but holding the mindset in a challenging economy that certain jobs are too ‘low’ for someone with a degree. So, If I were a lawyer with an LLM earning ₦75,000 in a law firm today who also happens to be a skilled photographer - I would take Peller’s interview without hesitation. That is, unless my love for legal practice constrains me to continue deviling in the profession till such a time as my circumstances may improve.
Peller, if reports are accurate, earns at least $100,000 monthly. That is more than most blue-chip firms in Nigeria pay their entire executive teams. When a digital entrepreneur offers to pay a cameraman half a million naira per month, shouldn’t we be asking what he knows about monetising creativity that the rest of us haven’t learned? People forget that the digital and creative economy is one of the few Nigerian sectors consistently expanding and creating wealth.
Peller, Jarvis and their kind are living proof that content creation and personal branding are serious businesses. Their operations require skilled production, marketing and visual storytelling - work that is neither menial nor inconsequential to anyone. Even abroad, many celebrity photographers, videographers, and assistants have impressive academic pedigrees. It is not unusual to find people with master’s and doctoral degrees working behind the scenes because they have realised something crucial - that wealth lies in finding the sweet spot between what you know and what the market wants.
I understand the argument that Nigeria needs more robust, dignified employment for its educated citizens. That’s true. But refusing to engage with opportunities in the creative industries, simply because they don’t match our outdated ideas of ‘professional’ work, is part of why so many talented people remain broke.
Beyond the salary, consider the upside for any master’s degree holder with an entrepreneurial mindset who finds himself (or herself) in Peller’s organisation. Two years working in that ecosystem would likely give them access to skills, networks and visibility to start their own production business or build a personal brand. In a world where digital platforms can multiply your income many times over, learning to create and monetise content is a growth path, not a dead end - or a walk of shame.
More fundamentally, I would argue that the professions themselves need this kind of disruption. We need more lawyers who can produce documentaries on legal literacy, more engineers who can teach technical skills via YouTube, more PhDs who can translate complex ideas into mass-market content. No discipline is truly complete today without the entrepreneurial element - and the refusal to embrace this is why many people with advanced degrees stay trapped in low-paying traditional roles.
The dignity of labour is not determined by the title of the job, but by the skill, professionalism and impact you bring to it. Poverty often begins when you see a way out of penury but dismiss it as infra dignitatem or 'beneath dignity' for you while making no effort to increase your value where you are. Peller’s cameraman role may not be the career many dreamed of while collecting certificates, but it is honest work, with serious earning potential, in a growing industry. And if you believe you are too educated to take it, make sure you are also working just as hard to create something better.
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