The Best Single Solution for Eradicating Poverty in Nigeria come 2011

Everywhere we turn we find fellow Nigerians complaining about the situation of things in our country, on the media, the newspapers and the Internet. I for one is tired of reading and listening to all the complains.

The Facts…

Yes, the government is supposed to provide education and employment for the masses.

Yes, where there is good electricity there is progress. The poor electricity services in the country is affecting all sectors of the economic especially businesses.

Yes, the government is supposed to provide good and affordable housing. Yes, the government is supposed to provide good roads.

Yes, the leaders are corrupt and are more concerned about amassing wealth for themselves than caring for the masses.

Yes, our country is blessed with natural resources and talents.

The Reality…

The level of education in Nigeria is not about to change anytime soon, you can complain from now till tomorrow.

Unemployment is not an issue limited to Nigeria only even well developed countries are having the same problem except that, that of Nigeria is higher. Meaning that even if our leaders suddenly turn a new leaf over night and start doing things right, a good number of people would still be unemployed.

It is just unrealistic to expect government to employ everybody. The organizations available are just too small to carter for the numbers of people who join the labor market everyday and every year. They can only employ a limited number of people. Vacancies only come up when any of the existing organizations is expanding or someone resigned or was laid off for some reason since new companies are not being set up very often.

We all wish that electricity will become consistent in Nigeria but for now the serious ones are coping, I’m sure that includes you.

We know government provide good housing every now and then (in limited numbers) except that it’s not affordable to all levels of the masses and that also won’t be changing anytime soon.

As for the provision of good roads, well most of these guys in power don’t even use the roads so what do you expect?

Corruption is at all levels of affairs it’s not something limited to the government. Ask yourself, do I take bribe? Do I add an extra mark to a student score simply because he/she is related to me? How about adjusting your cup, scale or anything used for measurement of food stuffs or something related to consumers? When you do some soul searching you’ll be an extra ordinary person if afterwards you come out clean.

It’s not only left to the government to make use of the resources and talents in this country. What about you? Many individuals have come up with different ways to make use of some of the country’s resources, their own or others talents to their benefits. If majority of us can do that, it would greatly help the economic.

My Point is….

Things are the way they are, you can either keep crying for help…

Or you can do something about it and improve your financial position.
Why is it that it is only the poor/average masses that are complaining about the situation of the country? Well, because when the rich is buying fuel/diesel to use for his generator set in order to generate light, the poor/average Nigerians can’t afford to keep doing so.

When the wealthy is taking flights they can’t because it’s expensive so they go by road and notice all the bad roads.

When the wealthy is sending his kids abroad for their education, they can’t because it’s expensive.

They notice the rate of unemployment because they are seeking for jobs instead of creating one like most of the wealthy do.

They (the poor/average citizens) are looking for people or the government to invest in their talents because they don’t know that they can with little efforts turn their talents, skills, hobby, knowledge and experience into a business that generates money for them consistently.

I am by no means suggesting that people should not exercise their rights of freedom of speech. I am saying that if you don’t depend on the general system too much for your needs/wants these things wouldn’t get to you too much.

What’s the point fussing over something you can’t change? We pray that someday the country gets better but you sure don’t want to wait till that someday to plan for your future and live comfortably, do you?

What is the single best solution I am recommending? Well, it’s quite simple. Let every man or woman take charge of his/her life. That’s it? Yeah that’s it!

Short and simple, but workable.

Take responsibility for your life and that of your immediate household. Do not depend or wait on someone else to, else be ready to take whatever they serve you without complaining.

It’s not difficult to become a millionaire especially in Naira. Nigerians are so poor because they have limited themselves in several ways.

Factors Limiting Nigerians from Wealth

Failure to take responsibility

We just have too many people who are not taking responsibility instead they always manage to find someone else to blame for their financial situations.

A parent blames his own parents for not sending him or her to school or the government for not providing enough jobs. The child blames his or her parents that couldn’t raise money to send him or her to school and who will the child’s children and children’s children blame? The blame will continue to go round.

What guaranty’s that if you had gone to school you would have secured a nice job or any job at that? The country is full of graduates and even professional certificate holders without a job. Being educated is not synonymous to a comfortable living.

Let me tell you today, there is no situation you find yourself that you are not responsible for. Whatever reason you think you have for not being among successes, we have lots of other people who have excelled from such situations, including some of the politicians you see today that you think are rich because they are politicians.

Some of them if not many, have had their fair shares of difficult living strong enough to prevent them from achieving their dreams but they excelled because they had the Will and persistence of achieving nothing less than their dreams and most of all, they took responsibility for their lives.

Recently I read of a former senator who said her only regret when she was a senator was that her parents who lived through poverty and so couldn’t pay for her WAEC exams where not alive today to see what she has achieved.

I have also listened to a certain politician on TV said he had to hawk to pay his school fees. So most of the wealthy people you see today have gone through tougher times to get to where they are today. So don’t excuse yourself.

“There is no such thing as a really rich victim!” Harv Eker

Are you a student in one of the universities, polytechnics or college of Education? Why not get a side job that wouldn’t interfere with your studies and raise some money to be able to assist with your education and even plan for a better future?

Are you a student waiting to gain admission to higher institution? While not learn a trade for the time being? A service you could render to fellow students for money when you eventually gain admission, such as hair dressing, make-ups, manicure, pedicure, barbing, graphic design, web design or learn computer basics so that you can prepare projects for fellow students. There are so many things you can do.

Are you a worker? Plan for your own retirement; don’t wait for the peanuts that the government will be paying you or count only on the pension scheme that companies pay for on your behalf. If you start now, and you’re the type that doesn’t enjoy your job, you could earn enough to retire in few years.

Are you a parent? Keep in mind that it is your God given responsibility to take care of your children.

So no matter what is preventing you from taking up your responsibility, fight it and do whatever it takes (as long as it’s legit) to take care of your family. Don’t push or force your children to start taking care of the family at a tender age while you’re still alive. It’s a complete failure on your part as a parent!

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself”
-- Henry Ward Beecher

Lack of will

Most Nigerians are just not willing to improve their lives. You see them praying to God everybody and wishing their situation will change but they are not making any move that will bring fought the change.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will”
-- Vince Lombardi

Even when you don’t have the knowledge, as long as you have the Will, you will find the knowledge.

Believing too much in the system

Most people believe too much in the system of ‘I go to school, acquire a good degree and perhaps my masters and get a job in a lucrative company and live happily ever after’. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work out like that no matter how good your grades are.

My elder sister was a good example of that. She graduated from one of the best schools (University of Benin) with one of the best results. If you even go to her department now and mention her name you’ll hear people tell you about her brilliance and how good she was in her set. But did you know she was jobless for 10 years?

For people who believe too much in the system, when the system doesn’t work out the way they expected it to, they never want to think of creating a job for themselves. Why? When I spent several years to obtain a good degree? Well, if you are one of such persons, I understand what you mean, but realize that the system has failed us. Nothing is as it should be anymore, it’s time for you to wake up and take charge of your life. Don’t limit yourself.

I have even heard of someone that was out of a job for a long time and one time when he attended an interview the interviewer was asking him what he spent all those years doing while he was out of job. What does that tell you? It means most people know that the system no longer works and so expects you to look into other ways you can provide for yourself.

We also have people who work for peanuts and they keep applying to other companies for a better job, they don’t mind if it takes them forever to get the job.
They expect that they will because they have a good grade or that’s how it should be.

Sorry, there is nothing more common than people with good grades who are jobless!

While you work at your peanut job, while not start a business at the side?

One of the biggest problems that certificate holders have is that they think it’s only when they work for an oil company or telecoms or any of the other big companies that they can earn well. This is because they are limited to the amount of money they can potentially earn working for themselves.

33% of self-made millionaires are entrepreneurs, this is because entrepreneurs work for themselves and so can earn money without limits.

The Lack of Reading Habit

If you want to become wise, learn from the wise ones. There’s no way you can acquire knowledge if you don’t read and read more.

There is no area you wish to excel on that professionals who’ve been there and done that haven’t sat down to painstakingly write a good book on. Some of these pros learnt from their failures and then they sat down to write a book on it so you can limit failures and achieve success in time.

But how would you learn from the pros if you don’t buy their books and then read it? It makes no difference if you buy or download books but don’t read them.

I had found nice books online which fortunately where free to download and sent to a friend or two that I knew needed it. But when I ask them if they’ve read it, I get, hmmm, I haven’t had the time. Can you imagine? And it’s a field they want to excel on!

A very strong key to success in life is to always be willing to learn and learn a little more. The millionaires we see today sustain their wealth by being up to date with happenings around them in the field they are interested in. That is why they are always one of firsts to learn of an opportunity and invest in it.

If you want to become successful in life and live the kind of life that you desire, find those who have achieved the kind of success that you seek and buy all their books (if possible) or books others have written about how they achieved their success and then sit down to read noting down points that you’ll like to apply.

In fact read almost anything you find, that’s what it means to form the habit of reading.

You won’t believe that as serious as I sound, I love to read gossip magazines especially City People, and though we all know that some of the matters discussed are just based on speculations or rumors but there are times when I find really informative and inspiring stories that give me more push to pursue my goal of becoming financially free.

My point here is that no knowledge is wasted.

Instead of always buying gifts that are of no value in the real sense of the word to people, find a nice book in a field you know that person is interested in and wrap it up. A simple gift of the right book could change that person’s life forever.

If you are a parent you can start seeding money values and the principles of creating wealth in your kids at early age by buying them books related to finance and wealth creation. There is no age too young to learn about self discipline and money matters.

The earlier you start inculcating these values, the sooner the child will learn and become famous. So in place of a toy, at times buy a book.

Easy Money

Most of us always want to make money in what seems the easy way. That is why we fall for scams such as ‘Invest N20, 000 and make N45, 000 in 30days’. This is exactly what most of us want. So we forget to ask how it is possible to make a profit of more than 120% in one month.

There is no easy money anywhere and nobody in business will ever give you money for free.

For someone to make money easily they must have invested some good amount of time in a certain venture and then eventually it brings them money with little or no further work. But expecting to just have money coming to you regularly without any work upfront is criminal.

If you keep looking for easy money you will only lose the little that you have to scammers.

Honestly if you find an advert insinuating that you would make money with little or zero amount of work please close the page of the advert fast because if such way of making money actually exists, believe me, nobody will reveal it no matter how much you pay them!

There are two ways to make money – you either trade your time for money (where you really work hard and get under paid) or you trade money for your time which is the simple and almost easy way of making money that is what you should learn and master if you want to create wealth and ultimately achieve financial freedom where all your needs and wants are within reach without much effort.

But take note that both ways of making money involves hard-work, determination and persistence the only difference is that when you trade money for time, you earn more for little effort.

Lack of Ambition

This is very common with most Lagosians. I know of a family, the man married the wife into a one room apartment, they had their 4 kids and raised all in that one room, now 2 of the children have gotten married from inside that one room and the remaining 2 are still living inside the same one room with their parents.

What would you say about that? That is being stagnant! No progress because no ambition and therefore no plan. And it’s common to see families like that, one that has being in one room in the same compound for 30 years!

Now there is a difference between when a family is managing in a one room apartment for a time being and just living all their lives in one room. That’s really bad.

The parents and 5-6 grown up children all in one room, that is so sad, worse even because the children will likely continue the same thing as children are greatly influenced by their parents and tend to copy them in their own lifestyles.

We are just too content with little. Think of your children, or your unborn children. What legacy will you be leaving for them? What legacy will you be leaving in this world?

It’s better for you to be too ambitious than not to be ambitious at all because then you will push yourself hard to achieve your goal.

“Lucky is the man whom the Demon of Ambition harnesses and drives through life. This wonderful little coachman is the champion driver of all of the world and all of history.
Lucky you, if he is your driver”
-- Author Unknown

Nigerians Resist Change

Though we all seek change but we resist it when it eventually comes. Say we’ve been used to a particular system of doing things and suddenly we are asked or expected to do things differently we find it difficult to adjust even if the new way makes it easier to get tasks done.

Take the internet business for example. I have tried to explain what I do to several people close to me but they fail or refuse to understand. Even as much as I tried to bring it home for them by using the example of offline newspaper, some just don’t get it.

What I do is almost exactly what is obtainable offline. The newspaper houses attract people to them by providing news and information freely to the public through their regularly published newspaper or through a website.

When the advertiser wants to advert, he looks for the newspaper house with the highest readership to place his ads on because he wants his advert (s) to be exposed to as many people as possible.

So newspaper houses mostly make their money from the adverts they include in their newspaper which their readers get to see because of the free up to date information they provide.

This is exactly what happens online except that on the internet there are more ways in which a publisher can make money from his or her website. Isn’t this simple enough to understand? But I still have some people who think I am into yahoo yahoo (fraudulent activities) online just because they can’t seem to understand what I do or how it is possible to make legitimate money online.

The worse part is that they don’t know and they are not curious enough to investigate further to see if opportunities lies in there for them, instead some start mocking me and I look at them and laugh. I really pity the ignorance of some people. If only they know how interesting and simpler their lives will be if they learn to work smart.

So when you clamor for change, ask yourself when the change come will you be willing to learn and adjust to it especially if it makes life more interesting for you?

Poor Mindset

There are a lot of wrong thoughts and ideas that we have entertained that currently limit us from attaining our financial potentials in life. The factors that I have discussed above are part of the poor mindset but there is more to be discussed on it and how to manage them.

Changing your mindset is the first step to getting ahead in life. So make it a goal for 2011 and improve your lifestyle.

“Change yourself and fortune will change with you”
-- Portugese Proverb

This article is an excerpt from the book How to Become a Millionaire in Nigeria by Karo Itoje. You can get a copy at become-millionaire-in-nigeria.com