As a humanist, I want people in in Nigeria to have better standards of living and enough money in their pockets to take care of themselves.

However, two experiences have changed my mind- some people should be poor all their lives. They deserve it;


Experience 1;
My friend's car was parked near a bank and someone bashed the car. My friend and I were almost getting into the bank when we heard the bashing noise. We went to see what happened but the person had driven away. Fortunately, there was standstill traffic and we knew that the person that bashed it would not be far. I saw a trader who was selling next to the car and asked him who bashed the car. The trader said he didnt see anything. This was a lie because even we who were far from the car heard the noise. We begged the trader and he still kept quiet. We then had to be looking at cars in the traffic that had dents. Luckily, I saw a car that had a dent and that was parked at the bank earlier. We caught the culprit. When we confronted the trader again, he confessed that he saw the culprit but he didnt want to be involved.


Experience 2;
I recently went with a client of mine to deposit money at a bank. My client has a water business where he sells pure water. He deposited 20,000 naira of which 2000 naira was of 20 naira notes and 3000 naira was of 50 naira notes. The bank staff that was handling the deposit was smiling and mocking my client in yoruba (the client is a foreigner from Lebanon) and saying that it was rubbish money that the man is depositing. The bank staff cannot earn more than 150k a month, while my client makes that from pure water in a week.



The trader in the first experience almost lost his shop as my friend threatened to destroy it and call the local govt as the shop is illegally on public land. The trader started begging because that was his only source of income.

The banker could have lost his job if I decided to report his mockery.


Now tell me, why these people should ever have money in their life when they will surely make other people miserable? These two people could have lost their source of income and could have faced poverty.


cc hahn, hopefullandlord, johnydon22, hardmirror

I'd play the devil's Imapata's advocate

The first scenario, the pure water seller just doesn't want trouble. He doesn't know who you are, doesn't know who the basher is, doesn't know what the situation might escalate to

You'd be surprised that in certain situations it might escalate to the pure water guy having to go bear witness in court or being invited to police station and getting extorted by police, having his time wasted and business affected all because he said he saw who bashed your car

Such scenario brings up the total lack of faith in the system and others. nobody really goes all out to be insincere but when you've been burned once or twice out of your display of sincerity and people around you who aren't as sincere as you (or don't display it as much) are having their lives go smoothly then you might start cutting back on your own display to save you trouble






For the second guy you called a banker, well I think his action might be brought about by his experiences with the Lebanese. I learnt the Lebanese are one of the worst people in Nigeria in terms of how they treat their Nigerian subordinates. he could have family members being treated like slaves and insulted by the Lebanese and saw the money situation as an opportunity to get one back

hopefulLandlord:
I'd play the devil's Imapata's advocate

The first scenario, the pure water seller just doesn't want trouble. He doesn't know who you are, doesn't know who the basher is, doesn't know what the situation might escalate to

You'd be surprised that in certain situations it might escalate to the pure water guy having to go bear witness in court or being invited to police station and getting extorted by police, having his time wasted and business affected all because he said he saw who bashed your car

Such scenario brings up the total lack of faith in the system and others. nobody really goes all out to be insincere but when you've been burned once or twice out of your display of sincerity and people around you who aren't as sincere as you (or don't display it as much) are having their lives go smoothly then you might start cutting back on your own display to save you trouble

Yet, many Nigerians like him in poverty do not hesitate to burn thieves with tyres. We would have given the guy compensation for his troubles had he helped.

hopefulLandlord:
I'd play the devil's Imapata's advocate


For the second guy you called a banker, well I think his action might be brought about by his experiences with the Lebanese. I learnt the Lebanese are one of the worst people in Nigeria in terms of how they treat their Nigerian subordinates. he could have family members being treated like slaves and insulted by the Lebanese and saw the money situation as an opportunity to get one back

I have worked with so many racist Indians and Lebanese in Nigeria. Yet, I keep my professionalism as long as the Indian is not rude to me. All Indians are not bad, neither are all lebanese

hopefulLandlord:
I'd play the devil's Imapata's advocate

The first scenario, the pure water seller just doesn't want trouble. He doesn't know who you are, doesn't know who the basher is, doesn't know what the situation might escalate to

You'd be surprised that in certain situations it might escalate to the pure water guy having to go bear witness in court or being invited to police station and getting extorted by police, having his time wasted and business affected all because he said he saw who bashed your car

Such scenario brings up the total lack of faith in the system and others. nobody really goes all out to be insincere but when you've been burned once or twice out of your display of sincerity and people around you who aren't as sincere as you (or don't display it as much) are having their lives go smoothly then you might start cutting back on your own display to save you trouble

GBAM!

For Lagos again? Wetin concern agbero with overload?

For the second guy you called a banker, well I think his action might be brought about by his experiences with the Lebanese. I learnt the Lebanese are one of the worst people in Nigeria in terms of how they treat their Nigerian subordinates. he could have family members being treated like slaves and insulted by the Lebanese and saw the money situation as an opportunity to get one back

Indians and Lebanese are the worse

Op, I am yet to understand how this equates to "some people are destined to be poor"

hahn:

Op, I am yet to understand how this equates to "some people are destined to be poor"

me too

hahn:



Op, I am yet to understand how this equates to "some people are destined to be poor"

Well, there are some mentalities that are guaranteed to keep one in poverty. It seems that you agree with such mentality

JeromeBlack:



Well, there are some mentalities that are guaranteed to keep one in poverty. It seems that you agree with such mentality

Evidently you are misinformed

hahn:


Evidently you are misinformed

Misinformed about what?

If men were God, only if men were God..smh!

JeromeBlack:


Misinformed about what?

The mentality needed to create wealth because your examples are totally off point

hahn:


The mentality needed to create wealth because your examples are totally off point

First, I never said anything about creating wealth. In fact, I mentioned the "mentalities guaranteed to keep one in poverty" which would be different from a "mentality needed to create wealth".

I knew that my post would elicit disagreement and so, I kept the rationalization vague and to the barest minimum.


You and hopefullandlord agree with the same wicked Nigerian mentality that keeps us down. If the trader was smart, he would have helped us and asked for compensation for the help. We were ready to pay for such assistance. Rather, the trader put his shop at risk because he put himself in a position where he could be accused of helping the culprit as he clearly was a witness to the crime and he was quiet.

Typical Nigerian mentality of helping only himself. If the trader had gotten the sensing of a win-win situation where he both helped us and himself, he would be better off. But no, he kept quiet and wanted to only help himself while we suffered.



As for the banker, racism/xenophobia/hatred is never justified. You could lose jobs and contracts because of such (is losing jobs/contracts not a guaranteed way to poverty?). Just because some lebanese are bad, it does not mean that all lebanese are bad. Do you hate all christians just because some are heartless liars like butterflyling?

Furthermore, the mentality of the banker was quite dull. Money is money. Just because someone is depositing money in 20 naira notes, it doesnt mean that the person is poor. If you have a shop or sell pure water, a lot of your income comes in small notes. The Lebanese man has many businesses and his pure water business brings him nothing less that 600k a month. He sells three trucks of water in week. The banker's attitude to money is why he will likely never be an entrepreneur.



I hope you can see my points

JeromeBlack:


I have worked with so many racist Indians and Lebanese in Nigeria. Yet, I keep my professionalism as long as the Indian is not rude to me. All Indians are not bad, neither are all lebanese

Yes but human minds aren't purely logical. we all have preconceived conclusions, insecurities and emotions which finds its way into our professional life sometimes unless we act like robots

hopefulLandlord:


Yes but human minds aren't purely logical. we all have preconceived conclusions, insecurities and emotions which finds its way into our professional life sometimes unless we act like robots

Is that your reply? Your honest rebuttal?

So you mock customers when you get emotional? That is a gateway to failure and poverty


Stop defending the indefensible.

JeromeBlack:


Is that your reply? Your honest rebuttal?

So you mock customers when you get emotional? That is a gateway to failure and poverty


Stop defending the indefensible.

I'm not defending anyone though, I'm explaining how I understand the human psychology and with understanding why people do what they do one can then look for how to correct it or cope with it

JeromeBlack:


First, I never said anything about creating wealth. In fact, I mentioned the "mentalities guaranteed to keep one in poverty" which would be different from a "mentality needed to create wealth".

Are you trying to say that someone can have "mentalities guaranteed to keep one in poverty" and still build wealth? Aren't they correlated?

I knew that my post would elicit disagreement and so, I kept the rationalization vague and to the barest minimum.

Of course it would. Maybe if you focus more on having a discussion instead of being right we will be able to get somewhere

You and hopefullandlord agree with the same wicked Nigerian mentality that keeps us down. If the trader was smart, he would have helped us and asked for compensation for the help. We were ready to pay for such assistance. Rather, the trader put his shop at risk because he put himself in a position where he could be accused of helping the culprit as he clearly was a witness to the crime and he was quiet.

Typical Nigerian mentality of helping only himself. If the trader had gotten the sensing of a win-win situation where he both helped us and himself, he would be better off. But no, he kept quiet and wanted to only help himself while we suffered.

It is not really a question of agreeing than observing what is the norm. That does not mean if I was in a similar situation I would do the same

As for the banker, racism/xenophobia/hatred is never justified. You could lose jobs and contracts because of such (is losing jobs/contracts not a guaranteed way to poverty?). Just because some lebanese are bad, it does not mean that all lebanese are bad. Do you hate all christians just because some are heartless liars like butterflyling?

Furthermore, the mentality of the banker was quite dull. Money is money. Just because someone is depositing money in 20 naira notes, it doesnt mean that the person is poor. If you have a shop or sell pure water, a lot of your income comes in small notes. The Lebanese man has many businesses and his pure water business brings him nothing less that 600k a month. He sells three trucks of water in week. The banker's attitude to money is why he will likely never be an entrepreneur.

Well I agree with this but then since you don't know this banker personally I would say that all you have said about the possibility of him not venturing into entrepreneurship is based solely on your assumption. Ironically the same thing you are accusing him of.

Also the trader can be considered a business person or an entrepreneur so once again your point is void in his case because in certain situations, especially in our society, minding your own business can go a long way.

I hope you can see my points

And I hope you can see mine

hopefulLandlord:


I'm not defending anyone though, I'm explaining how I understand the human psychology and with understanding why people do what they do one can then look for how to correct it or cope with it

jeromeblack just wants to be right and he has obviously refused to look at the whole picture

@OP... everything cannot go your way. Get that.

hahn:


jeromeblack just wants to be right and he has obviously refused to look at the whole picture

I resemble butterflylion?

Bro, I have seen the whole picture. The problem is that I reject parts of the picture.

hahn:


Are you trying to say that someone can have "mentalities guaranteed to keep one in poverty" and still build wealth? Aren't they correlated?

Where did I say that?

I said that one is different from the other-

JeromeBlack:


In fact, I mentioned the "mentalities guaranteed to keep one in poverty" which would be different from a "mentality needed to create wealth".

Even if you do not have a mentality guaranteed to keep you in poverty, you could still be poor. People work hard with discipline but are still poor.

hahn:





Of course it would. Maybe if you focus more on having a discussion instead of being right we will be able to get somewhere




It is not really a question of agreeing than observing what is the norm. That does not mean if I was in a similar situation I would do the same

If you really wanted a discussion, you would have asked me to explain what I was trying to say.

You were adamant that I had no point. Hence my defensive attitude.

Quid pro quo, nigga.

hahn:



Well I agree with this but then since you don't know this banker personally I would say that all you have said about the possibility of him not venturing into entrepreneurship is based solely on your assumption. Ironically the same thing you are accusing him of.

Also the trader can be considered a business person or an entrepreneur so once again your point is void in his case because in certain situations, especially in our society, minding your own business can go a long way.



And I hope you can see mine

What I actually meant to say was that the banker would not be a good entrepreneur.

eosigwe:
@OP... everything cannot go your way. Get that.

Defeatist mentality.

JeromeBlack:



What I actually meant to say was that the banker would not be a good entrepreneur.

How exactly do you know that? People grow. People learn from their mistakes

JeromeBlack:


If you really wanted a discussion, you would have asked me to explain what I was trying to say.

You were adamant that I had no point. Hence my defensive attitude.

Quid pro quo, nigga.

You didn't need to be defensive if you wanted an open discussion in the first place

JeromeBlack:


I resemble butterflylion?

You keep mentioning this guy. E be like say you dey find argument

Bro, I have seen the whole picture. The problem is that I reject parts of the picture.

Well it is what it is

JeromeBlack:





Defeatist mentality.

You, Jerome actually have a poor mindset. You keep countering every point made, like you are not even open for discussion. Try to see reasons why others are countering you. Stop defending your myopic mind. Gloodbye

eosigwe:
You, Jerome actually have a poor mindset. You keep countering every point made, like you are not even open for discussion. Try to see reasons why others are countering you. Stop defending your myopic mind. Gloodbye

The irony is killing me.

hahn:


You didn't need to be defensive if you wanted an open discussion in the first place

Really?

You do realise that being defensive normally comes in response to an offensive action?