Let me start this piece with a common saying on social media. If you are in the habit of complaining people are stingy, it might be an indication that you are begging too much.
Well, much has been said about people in the United Kingdom being tight-fisted. To a large extent, I am of the opinion that this is true and could be attributed to some of the reasons explained below:

(1) Culture:
The United Kingdom just like most Western countries has embraced individualism. The system of every man for himself. In Africa, it is collectivism which simply means 'Let's do it as a family, let's grow together' You will hardly see the core Britons help each other financially. They will rather rely on credit facilities from banks, credit cards, and benefits to survive tough financial times. This is unlike Nigeria where 'billing' is almost cultural in the 21st century due to age-long systemic poverty.

(2) Littany of lies:
Some Nigerians are in the business of cooking up comprehensive and water-tight lies to extort money from their family members abroad. Personally, I have friends who have abandoned their WhatsApp accounts to avoid hearing countless touching stories from friends and acquaintances in Nigeria. To cope with the virus of lies, people in the UK have adopted a firewall to block all intrusions.

(3) Hustle is hard:
Life in the UK is historically difficult, and in recent times, things have gotten tougher for the 6th largest economy in the world due to the growing population, Brexit, COVID-19, and other issues. People work round the clock, under extreme weather conditions, to earn money and the cost of living is too high. As of 2020/2021, employees were chasing people for jobs. Two years later, the reserve is the case, even in the blue-collar jobs industry. So every penny counts. You don't want to make money only to play a Father Christmas to someone whose financial challenges might not be genuine.

(4) Taxes:
This topic doesn't require much explanation as this is a paramount issue in the UK. Any sort of comfort you enjoy in the country is taxed. It runs a service-based economy. I have seen people earn about £3,000 gross salary in a month and get a net pay of £2,300. Income tax, National Insurance, and pension deductions took about £750 which is more than the salary of a successful person in Nigeria. Rent, council tax, loan repayment, vehicle insurance, and others would further beat your take-home pay until it struggles to take you home in the end.

(5) Personality traits
Some people are naturally stingy. In fact, they even struggle to spend their own money on themselves. It appears they might be of the belief that the funds could be taken with them to the great beyond. I have a friend who has no record of helping anybody in the history of his life and he has no plan to turn a new leaf. People like these come to the UK and become hardened in the area of stinginess.

(6) People are broke:
If poverty in the world is being measured by raw cash and not access to food, the UK might be one of the poorest countries in Europe. Most people have to overwork, to the detriment of their health to make extra bucks. This is why some locals see the paper chase as a rat race and they prefer to stay unemployed and focus on benefits from the government. Furthermore, the housing crisis in the UK is real. As a family man, 70% of your monthly earnings easily go into accommodation costs. This makes life mentally stressful and frustrating.
Anyone looking from the outside is easily deceived by the glossy pictures, nice clothes, and lovely locations they see on social media. This set of people constitutes the 'God When Squad' - a popular faction in the Nigerian social media space.


Osahon George Osayimwen writes from Sheffield, United Kingdom.

uche87:

(6) People are broke:
[b]If poverty in the world is being measured by raw cash and not access to food, the UK might be one of the poorest countries in Europe. [/b]Most people have to overwork, to the detriment of their health to make extra bucks. This is why some locals see the paper chase as a rat race and they prefer to stay unemployed and focus on benefits from the government. Furthermore, the housing crisis in the UK is real. As a family man, 70% of your monthly earnings easily go into accommodation costs. This makes life mentally stressful and frustrating.
Anyone looking from the outside is easily deceived by the glossy pictures, nice clothes, and lovely locations they see on social media. This set of people constitutes the 'God When Squad' - a popular faction in the Nigerian social media space.

Even before I saw the name of the writer, I already knew he was writing from the UK and would not hesitate to let us know that.

This is a country some people in Nigeria will sell their houses , cars , and borrow loan to migrate to. You see a multi millionaire here , doing well here migrate to UK after selling their properties, only to end up doing menial jobs to survive. No be juju be that

Been that way since the 80’s

UK people are “NATURALLY” stingy!

Rumors even has it that, Peter Obi learnt it from there.

What you wrote is nothing but the truth. I have two cousins living in the UK and they are stingy to a fault. They can never help but I am working hard to help myself

Pierocash:
This is a country some people in Nigeria will sell their houses , cars , and borrow loan to migrate to. You see a multi millionaire here , doing well here migrate to UK after selling their properties, only to end up doing menial jobs to survive. No be juju be that

people migrate because of their kids and is worth it in the end.

And the writer, Osahon George Osayimwen still lives in the UK.

The real problem is Nigerians and their silly entitlement mentality about someone else's income. How can you even call anyone stingy ffs.
Any amount anyone gives you from their hard earned sweat is a gift, you're in no way entitled to how the person spends their money .

Do you know how many hours he puts in daily to make ends meet ?
Do you know how much he pays for the tiny studio apartment he lives in ?
Do you know how much bills he has to pay after tax ?
Do you know how many people like you that sends him messages daily , and many he's even promised ?

There are too many silly Nigerians adults who are so entitled & self-centered and no different from their leaders.

Some friends and family members are not considerate.

Person just relocated to UK...spending a fortune with debts still hanging and you are already billing him just within 3 months of them arriving. Then them no respond...them go say he dy stingy.

Tax alone is draw back

No one, I repeat No One owes you sh!!t... Yhu better struggle yourself n Pray for better days ahead.

They should all come back home

Tinubu has turned Nigeria to El Dorado
People are actually rejecting jobs
Food is everywhere,
Naira is back and better

























Only in your dreams

Ebola can't give what he doesn't have
National Assembly got 70b to share
state governors got 5b each
you will get sachets of Rice, garri , groundnut and 8k palliative...

In my Local Government Area, nobody from the UK has broken the record by building a duplex.(upstairs)

Na always 3 bedroom portable bungalow

Unlike when you see the houses of people who are in America or other European countries like Germany it's always massive.

Na God go help my people for that UK

Truth is many of us who grew up with knowledge of our uncles, aunties, and cousins residing in the UK, do not really rate them highly when it comes to generosity.

We were struggling here.

They were struggling there.

Not many Africans make it big in the UK.

Those Nigerians who live large in the UK, actually made their money in Nigeria and spend it in the UK.

Okay

No2 is the koko...

Some Nigerians are in the business of cooking up comprehensive and water-tight lies to extort money from their family members abroad

Nawaooo and here I am planning to Japa

Pierocash:
This is a country some people in Nigeria will sell their houses , cars , and borrow loan to migrate to. You see a multi millionaire here , doing well here migrate to UK after selling their properties, only to end up doing menial jobs to survive. No be juju be that

Hmmmmm, this is deep!

No reason. Stingy is stingy

Is it your money?

No 5 is so funny. I don laugh tire

G

UK is very cost to live. Most of the Nigerians living there self dey struggle hard ni..