"I don't owe anyone anything." The anthem of the self-made. The mantra of the isolated. The lie we tell ourselves when gratitude feels like debt. Nobody is self-made. Not in Nigeria. Not anywhere. Someone fed you. Someone taught you. Someone gave you a chance. Someone covered for you. Someone believed in you before you believed in yourself. The "I don't owe anyone" narrative is amnesia disguised as strength. And the performance! The person who posts "I built this alone" while living in their parents' house. The entrepreneur who "started from nothing" with a family loan. The graduate who "worked hard" with school fees paid by an uncle. The erasure is creative. The erasure is necessary for the story. But the cost! The relationships burned. The bridges unthanked. The people who helped but are now invisible. The "I don't owe anyone" becomes "no one owes me" becomes isolation. The independence becomes loneliness. The strength becomes brittleness. The truth is messier. We owe everyone. We are owed by everyone. The owing is not debt; it's connection. It's the web that holds us. Cutting the web doesn't make you free. It makes you falling. Do you believe "I don't owe anyone anything"? Or do you keep a mental list of who to thank?
