Fear…There is a lot of that in our lives as Nigerians in recent times. Many would wish no one would awaken them from their blissful night rest because they are afraid of what’s in stock for them in reality. To be a Nigerian is now beginning to be a rather fearsome endearvour, rich or poor alike. But is our fear unfounded in this nation? Not really…not if you are attending a political rally somewhere in this nation.
The real problem for us, however, is not fear but understanding what we are afraid of. The problem is that we are often afraid of the wrong things. That in itself is due to no fault of ours really….separating fact from rumour is hard work, especially for busy people like Lagosians. Being human, we are driven by fear. We are so afraid of so many things that there is a fear of fears aptly named Phobophobia. That is fact, not fiction!
Check out this scenario…If you are the Senate President and are charged with funding one of two proven killers: Terrorist attacks and heart disease. Which cause would you root for? Which would you push for the most? The terrorist attacks of course. 9 out of 10 persons would vote for the terrorist act bill but the likelihood of being killed by a terrorist act in Lagos is infinitesimally smaller than being killed by clogging up your arteries with fatty and fried foods at your favourite fast food joint and dying of heart disease! Fact not fiction! Terrorist acts lie beyond or control, fried and fatty foods do not!
The question is, why are we driven by fear? It’s due in part to the familiarity factor. Terrorist acts, bombings and insecurity of lives have made the news more than any other news item in the past 5 months of our national history than the past 50 years put together! We are more familiar with terrorist acts and bombings much more than any other fear in our poor great nation. To be fair to us, nobody would love to live or die mangled by some twisted mind’s weapon of mass destruction.
The same unfortunately applies to our financial decision making. Lagosians are afraid of investing in anything. Rightly so too! We are much too familiar with financial failures than successes, financial demise of big institutions than financial achievements! Who would forget quickly the financial demise of several defunct banks, the wonder banks, the microfinance banks and other institutions? Lagos Island still bears testament to what were once host to financial operations of the big banks of yore, the skeletal remains of what used to be beautiful headquarters of many giant financial institutions. Thank God the place is not totally the graveyard of the financial dreams of billions of hard-earned naira.
But we seem to be forgetting one thing…The financial institutions are not all dead. The strong ones survived the harsh blow of the global meltdown. The reliable ones still hold their heads high. The dependable and reputable ones remain faithful to their clients. We are not dead yet! Life as humanity knows it still remains unpredictable and a huge risk. So what should we be afraid of? We simply should be afraid of making wrong decisions.
For the benefit of the young, I would like to repeat, the only ways to be filthily-‘stinkingly’ rich in modern day Naija remain;
· Winning the lottery
· Falling upon a huge inheritance or
· Becoming a politician
Thank God we seem to have to put money-making rituals behind us in this society, nobody wants to soil his hands with another’s blood anymore (at least so says everyone I’ve come across.)
The way to live a comfortable life in the nearest future simply is to plan and save for it! Shikena! No two ways about it. Fact not fiction! The question is, how does one do it in this seemingly unsafe financial ambience as it exists today? The answer is to simply make use of technology. Take a good look at that marketer (by a good look I mean a beneath the surface look,) that young man/woman wearing that crisp charcoal suit, with shoes shined to military precision, assaulting your senses with that pleasant cologne/perfume, and ask yourself the all important question, how well do I know this guy/lady?
Instead of being afraid to invest, prospective investors should be interested in knowing in the shortest time possible,
- The marketer, financial analyst, planner trying to sell them
- His/her names
- His/her number(s), e-mail(s), facebook id/profile name
- His/her company
After getting this background information, thanks to the internet, carry out your own background investigation on the person trying to sell to you. Be objective about your search on this person not personal; don’t try to mix business with pleasure. Look for the usual things that will help authenticate or put the marketer’s claims in the right perspective. Be on the look-out for such things as
· Does he/she have pictures on his profile confirming his identity?
· Does the company exist on google or other search portals?
· What do you think of their web-presence?
It is time to be informed not to be scared. Rome was not built in a day. It was built brick by brick, stone by stone. It is time to start laying a solid financial foundation for the future. Imagine if 7 generations ago Africans had been saving and building for the future, it would have been part of our lives to plan to leave a positive story for unborn generations to tell about our era.
History is beckoning upon us; upon our generation…Let’s heed that call. Let’s rewrite history so our children would remember us as the shambolic, wastrel generation that squandered the commonwealth and paid no attention to the future as we are witnessing right before our very eyes…The time is now. I remain Ogungbemi Olumide, phone numbers 07033588160 and 07056989820 and am an Insurance marketer with Standard Alliance Life Assurance.
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