Nigeria, Dec. 11 -- Chidi grew up in the hamlet of Nsukka, watching his father toil from dawn to dusk as a palm-wine tapper. Their small bungalow in the village stood as a silent reminder of honest poverty; cracked walls, rusted roofing sheets, and a compound always swept clean by his mother's broom. When his father died, there was barely enough for a decent coffin. Yet, his brothers, who rarely visited, insisted that "our father must be buried like a great man." The family house was rented out to a caterer for logistics, his father's only farmland was hurriedly sold, loans were taken, and a WhatsApp group was launched with the commanding title: "Papa's Final Honour - Support Fund."

Three months after the dust of the extravagant funeral ...