The Get Rich Quick Syndrome In Nigeria

I do not know how people expect to be rich overnight. I have been hearing about the "get rich quick syndrome " which seems to be doing more harm than good to the Nigerian society. Some Nigerian youths are no longer interested in making money the right,legal and honourable way. Some have gone into illegal acts such as armed robbery,political thuggery, kidnapping, Yahoo and Yahoo plus,money ritual etc.

These social vices are not helping the Nigerian society. Some of our youths no longer care about the dignity in labour and why hard work pays all they care about is making money at the expense of others .Money is not bad but it should be made in the right and honourable way.

You cannot be happy making money at the detriment of other people. Yes the government has failed but we the youth should not fail ourselves. I wonder when we became so money conscious that we no longer want to start small and grow big. We now want to blow by all means even if it is illegal. We are so interested in making money that we no longer care who we hurt in this process this is a bad way of reasoning.

There are four areas I believe encourage and discourage the get rich quick syndrome

1.PEER PRESSURE

The kind of friends one keep matters.These friends can influence the people around them both positively and negatively.The people we interact with matters when we are with the right circle of friends we get encouraged to do great things.When we are with the wrong circle of friends one can be influenced to partake in social vices which is harmful to the development of society.

2.PARENTS

Parents need to caution their children and not encourage them to get involved in illegal acts just to make money. As a parent if your child comes home with a car and you have no idea the kind of work they do even if you know and believe that the job they are engaged in cannot get them a car be bold enough to caution and ask questions.
Do not just welcome them with open arms ask them when and where they got such money from and the job they do.
Do not encourage them by welcoming them with open arms or compare them with their friends who seem well to do.

Do not compare your son David who is a barber to Samuel who is driving a flashy car and you may not even know the kind of work Samuel does which could be questionable.If you do David your son may be interested in being like Samuel and Samuel may just influence your son to engage in illegal acts.

3.RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Nigerians are religious and I believe that they hold their religious leaders in high regard.I believe that the messages they hear from their pastors and Imams and other leaders in their various houses of worship has a great influence on them.
I would admonish that our religious leaders begin to preach hard work,the dignity in labour to their followers.They should not welcome these people with open arms they should be bold enough to question them they should not keep quiet and pray for them because they brought tithe,offering and seed faith.They should instead caution these people be sure about the jobs they do.They should condemn illegal activitie in their messages and admonish parents to discourage their children from engaging in illegal acts.

4.GOVERNMENT

Our leaders need to know that they are supposed to serve us and not the other way around.One of the functions of government is to provide jobs for unemployed Nigerians.Government needs to wake up to its responsibility and provide jobs for its people.
In a mixed economy like Nigeria government remains the highest employer of labour.So by living up to this responsibility jobs should be provided for our youths so as for these illegal acts be discouraged.The government and other well meaning Nigerians should also help in providing skill acquisition centres for our youths so as for them not to stay idle.