Economic Viability: Inside Nigerians Poverty Mindset
By Mustapha Haruna
INFOMEDIA – Poverty has mortified most Nigerians that they now see every wealthy man as a ritualist or fraudster.
It is indisputable that nothing is permanent in Nigeria except suffering, as over 120 million people are living in poverty, and as a result, most people have lost all hopes and would leave the country if they had a choice financially.
However, long bath in poverty, lack of direction and resentment should not make anyone speak bad of anyone who is doing well at the moment. It always astounds me to hear people destructively criticize wealthy people in Nigeria; especially some of our youths who are affluent. As long as you did not give anyone money to keep for you, you have no right to dictate to them how they spend their money.
To some people, it is not possible for someone to make a lot of money without soiling his/her hands and even a taboo when such a wealthy person is still young.
This is the very reason you see people conclude easily that those with a lot of money are corrupt if they are in politics and believe automatically that they belong to one occultic kingdom or the other.
And if the person is a wealthy businessman or a successful entrepreneur, they tag the person a ritualist or a big time fraudster.
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Painfully, this very mindsets has crawled into the heads of our security operatives also, especially the police. Some of them even spend more time overplaying the role of EFCC that they barely give little or no time battling other criminal elements that have engulfed the nation in a huge depth of insecurity.
I know that the economic inequality in Nigeria these days is quite alarming as the rich keep getting richer, while the poor keep swimming in penury mixed with despair.
So, most people think it is impossible for one to migrate from being poor to being wealthy without stepping on toes or submitting his/her life to a supposed ‘devil’.
Well, a good study of any ‘money flow index’ will expose you to the fact that as some poor people get richer daily some rich people also get poorer, but packaging on the side of the rich will not make their impoverishment noticeable as you would notice the poor who became rich faster because of their improved standard of living.
George S. Classon said, “Without wisdom, gold is quickly lost by those who have it, but with wisdom, gold can be secured by those who have it not.”
The above quote by George S. Classon summarizes what happened in the colonial era and it’s a key to wealth creation if applied aptly.
Choose a goal and keep fighting like Floyd Mayweather until you become an unstoppable champion engulfed in expensive lifestyle.
We really need to change our mindset.
Mustapha Haruna is a Final Year Student of Information and Media Studies from Bayero University, Kano and an Intern with News Tunnel Kano
