You’ve probably heard that 70 per cent of lottery winners end up bankrupt within five years after the swift financial lift. Well, that isn’t entirely true and while a few get bankrupt, a good number put their gained money to good use. But, that’s not our subject today.
Quick fact; Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Belgium are amongst the world’s top 10 countries with the least natural resources. On the other hand, Liberia, Venezuela, Congo and Nigeria -although not in the top 10- are amongst the countries with the most natural resources. Here’s how this is interesting, it appears most of the countries with the least natural resources have built capacity to thrive even amid scarcity of resources while some of the countries richly blessed have fallen under The Resource Curse.

The Resource Curse is a term to broadly describe a situation where a country with abundant natural resources are socioeconomically and politically worse off, compared to countries with significantly fewer natural resources. Of course, you know where I am going with this.
From 1999 to 2013, Nigeria’s oil revenues totalled over $509.02Bn. In spite of this colossal earnings, Nigerian citizens remain terribly poor, with over 100 million people living on less than $1 a day. We all know this!

Compare Nigeria’s gross mismanagement of natural resources with UAE. For the third time in a row, the UAE Cabinet approved a zero-deficit federal budget of AED 61.354 billion for the year 2020. Its zero-deficit budget reflects the strength and abundant financial resources to fund economic development projects. Here’s the drift, the UAE’s economy hasn’t always been this way and over the years, they’ve built capacity to handle more; beginning with the confederation of its seven independent territories between 1971 and 1972. They all agreed to come together to efficiently manage their limited resources. So, it wasn’t rocket science.

Over the years, Nigeria has failed to build adequate capacity required to manage and invest properly. No one, in particular, is to blame for this misfortune except (the British) and a mass of power holders who’ve vehemently refused to understand the mechanics of processes and capacity building. Nigeria’s oil problem is akin to an insane person handing over car keys to five-year-old to drive. Crash!

Here’s what we can learn. Processes take time for capacity to be properly harnessed. There’s a solid reason why doctors require more school time than management students. So, while social media can trick one into believing in overnight success, there's no such thing. This is where I say, an 80k salary for a recent graduate is definitely not a bad start. Rather than pray for a billion, work on expanding your capacity to manage a billion.
Capacity building here could be better communication skills, understanding market trends, proper positioning, financial literacy, an extra professional course, adding negotiation skills to bargain better, squashing the ‘buy-now’ syndrome and a lot more.
Go figure!