₦airaland Forum

Canadian-based Nigerian doctor, Arinze Onwumelu, also known as Dr. Zo, has shared his opinion about the financial prudence of building mansions in villages.

Speaking on the topic, Dr. Zo questioned the longstanding tradition, which he described as economically unviable in the face of modern realities.

“I am Igbo, from the eastern part of the country,” he began, pointing out a cultural norm among the Igbos.
“Building a huge mansion in the village as a rich igbo man is a waste of time and a waste of money” – Popular Canada based doctor Dr Zo. pic.twitter.com/CLjEHmwHXD
— #OurFavOnlineDoc 🩺 🇬🇧 (@OurFavOnlineDoc) January 9, 2025

“There is this thing we have in the east that for you to be recognised as an Odogwu (a wealthy man), you must build a big mansion in the village. I did it too. I watched a lot of people this last Christmas go home and open their big mighty mansions in the East, especially. I don’t think other parts of the country have this same concept.”

Dr. Zo expressed concern about the lack of economic value in such investments.

“Sometimes, I wonder, we the Igbos think we are very smart in terms of economy, but sometimes I wonder the economic value. If I build that house somewhere in Lagos, Abuja, or Port-Harcourt, even Enugu, I would have made over a N100 million in the last five years.”

While Dr. Zo did not entirely dismiss the idea of owning property in the village, he advocated for moderation.

“I am not saying you should not build a house in the village. What I tell you is what I tell my younger ones: go to the village and just build a small house, 4-bedroom, have a big compound. It’s always good to have something in the village, but it does not have to be a mansion, occupying everywhere with houses. It’s rubbish.”

Reflecting on his personal experience, Dr. Zo shared the burdens of maintaining such properties.

“What I am saying to you, I did it, my father did it, father’s friends did it, and their kids are struggling today to maintain those houses. I am spending a lot of money to maintain the house I haven’t been in over four years because of things going on in the east—insecurity and stuff. So, what is the economic value? It is just a wrong move.”

He went further to advise against repeating the mistakes of the past. “What I am saying today, you will realise it in 25 years. Absolutely no need for those houses. Use that money and put it in better locations that will give you money. This is coming from a mistake that I made. A village mansion is a waste of time and a waste of money.”

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/01/building-mansion-in-village-as-igbo-man-is-waste-of-money-canada-based-dr-zo/

Aside for self braggadocio and status symbol, what economic value do those empty big-for-nothing mansions in the remote villages surrounded by bushes ?. They are abandoned, unhabitable, mostly used as kidnapper's den and oftentimes used as a drug factory.

Rubbish... rubbish post by a stoppd op who's not tired of tribalism at his old agbaya age..

He's right but people don't live by logic, they live to impress. There was that man who built a gigantic skyscraper in a sparsely populated village!

The man said we igbos think we are smart when it comes to economy but one idiot have abridged what was said and is putting up nonsense as topic

Greenback:
Rubbish... rubbish post by a stopped op who's not tired of tribalism at his old agbaya age..

Use your head, he's advising you to invest in SW & SS where there's economic value and returns than waste money building liabilities in the SE. A word is enough for the wise but we know that people like you without shingbai are mostly the online billionaires.

DaddyCoool:
He's right but prople don't live by logic, they live to impress. There was that man who built a gigantic skyscraper in a sparsely populated village!

For the very first time, you're making sense 👏

PressMyButton:
"...A village mansion is a waste of time and a waste of money.”

💯

mymadam:
💯

💯

PressMyButton:
Use your head, he's advising you to invest in SW& SS where there's economic value and returns than waste money building liabilities in the SE. A word is enough for the wise but we know that people like you without shingbai are mostly the online billionaires.

If you ain't the old agbaya who never behaves his age,you would know that not everyone else is Igbo.
And again,you you ain't the old agbaya,you would also remember that it is the same you yorubas who always attack and accuse the Igbos of not doing things in their home,abi shebi it is you people who always call them "developers?"
So tell us,what are you saying now?!

All of a sudden,an âffònjæ op is concerned about the Igbos, wonderful 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

overall90:
The man said we igbos think we are smart when it comes to economy but one idiot have abridged what was said and is putting up nonsense as topic

Tell us the difference in what he said below;

Sometimes, I wonder, we the Igbos think we are very smart in terms of economy,

The Dr is telling you it is a foolish decision building mansions in villages. It is not smart even though una think say na smartness.

They build outside their state,you call them DEVELOPERS.
They build in their states,wahala!!!!


Oro Igbo lo ma pa gbogbo yin 🤣🤣🤣🤣

PressMyButton:
Aside for self braggadocio and status symbol, what economic value do those empty big-for-nothing mansions in the remote villages surrounded by bushes ?. They are abandoned, unhabitable, mostly used as kidnapper's den and oftentimes used as a drug factory.

Bitter kola

Ndi Lagos is a slum as purported by people who never even bought one bag of cement before.

zero8zero:
Tell us the difference in what he said below;

The Dr is telling you it is a foolish decision building mansions in villages. It is not smart even though una think say na smartness.

You all should be ashamed of yourselves.....

Wetin concern Una with Igbo matter?!!!

Are you people going to accuse them of everything till Una die!!?? Haba!!!

Ain't you guys tired of Igbo this Igbo that upandan everyday!!!? Are you guys so jobless?

He is right, I discussed with him in a party last month.

What he said was basic common sense.

Build your mansions in Lagos, Nigeria's former capital and commercial hub, and you face resistance from the Yorubas.

Build your mansions in Abuja, the federal capital, and suddenly the FCT Minister and bureaucrats become obstacles.

Build your mansions in Port Harcourt, the oil and gas powerhouse, and you encounter the Ikwerre—some battling identity crises. (Here, I refer not to the Igbo subgroup but to those who trace their roots to Edo.)

Invest your hard-earned money in real estate, and even your own people criticize you, calling it a waste, offering no better alternatives for wealth creation or security.

Do these critics know how many Igbo have lost their properties in Lagos and Abuja? How many dreams buried under bureaucracy, tribalism, or outright hostility? The Igbo are not "wasting" money; they are securing their future, tying resources into assets that will appreciate.

Keep your empty advice. If you're not offering solutions, you are part of the problem.

PressMyButton:
Use your head, he's advising you to invest in SW & SS where there's economic value and returns than waste money building liabilities in the SE. A word is enough for the wise but we know that people like you without shingbai are mostly the online billionaires.

Nope, you are getting the wrong message. You can build a simple basic house in the village, not an imposing edifice. You see the difference?

Food for thought

Dr arinze is a foolish man. How can you not have a house in your village. Are you from sw or North. All the Northerners who are capable of building all have mansion in their village or state of origin. All the Yorubas working in oil companies in ph don't have houses there, rather they built mansion in the sw. Yet one stupid lgbo man is questioning why lgbos are building in the east. Foolish man

Greenback:
If you ain't the old agbaya who never behaves his age,you would know that not everyone else is Igbo.
And again,you you ain't the old agbaya,you would also remember that it is the same you yorubas who always attack and accuse the Igbos of not doing things in their home, abi shebi it is you people who always call them "developers?"
So tell us,what are you saying now?!

I know you like to smoke urine but I'm not the one that said it. The man that said it is an ibo man, Dr Arinze, go and slap him for saying it. Every progressive Yoruba has always tell you to go home and deverop alaigbo. But Dr Arinze is telling you not to go and waste money at home. Are you now going to follow our advice or follow Dr Arinze's advice?. I know you are confused now.

kettykin:
Build your mansions in Lagos, Nigeria's former capital and commercial hub, and you face resistance from the Yorubas.

Build your mansions in Abuja, the federal capital, and suddenly the FCT Minister and bureaucrats become obstacles.

Build your mansions in Port Harcourt, the oil and gas powerhouse, and you encounter the Ikwerre—some battling identity crises. (Here, I refer not to the Igbo subgroup but to those who trace their roots to Edo.)

Invest your hard-earned money in real estate, and even your own people criticize you, calling it a waste, offering no better alternatives for wealth creation or security.

Do these critics know how many Igbo have lost their properties in Lagos and Abuja? How many dreams buried under bureaucracy, tribalism, or outright hostility? The Igbo are not "wasting" money; they are securing their future, tying resources into assets that will appreciate.

Keep your empty advice. If you're not offering solutions, you are part of the problem.

Tell them. Stupid mofos who think Nigeria is one

PressMyButton:
Aside for self braggadocio and status symbol, what economic value do those empty big-for-nothing mansions in the remote villages surrounded by bushes ?. They are abandoned, unhabitable, mostly used as kidnapper's den and oftentimes used as a drug factory.

Say no to poverty.
Say no to busy body.
Say no to solo makinde 😁

Say no to broke-arsse

Say no to bitter kola 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

PressMyButton:
I know you like to smoke urine but I'm not the one that said it. The man that said it is an ibo man, Dr Arinze, go and slap him for saying it. Every progressive Yoruba has always tell you to go home and deverop alaigbo. But Dr Arinze is telling you not to go and waste money at home. Are you now going to follow our advice or follow Dr Arinze's advice?. I know you are confused now.

Says a deeply concerned self appointed ãffònjã minister and special adviser of Igbo affairs 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Nnamdipapa:
Nope, you are getting the wrong message. You can build a simple basic house in the village, not an imposing edifice. You see the difference?

In other words, don't bring major investments in the village. You're forgetting the crucial part of "little or no economic value" he emphasizes.

In the morning, Igbo this..
In the afternoon, Igbo that.
In the evening, Igbo this and that...

In the midnight paapa, Igbo this and that ooooooooo


Shameless people
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

kettykin:
Build your mansions in Lagos, Nigeria's former capital and commercial hub, and you face resistance from the Yorubas.

Build your mansions in Abuja, the federal capital, and suddenly the FCT Minister and bureaucrats become obstacles.

Build your mansions in Port Harcourt, the oil and gas powerhouse, and you encounter the Ikwerre—some battling identity crises. (Here, I refer not to the Igbo subgroup but to those who trace their roots to Edo.)

Invest your hard-earned money in real estate, and even your own people criticize you, calling it a waste, offering no better alternatives for wealth creation or security.

Do these critics know how many Igbo have lost their properties in Lagos and Abuja? How many dreams buried under bureaucracy, tribalism, or outright hostility? The Igbo are not "wasting" money; they are securing their future, tying resources into assets that will appreciate.

Keep your empty advice. If you're not offering solutions, you are part of the problem.

So, why are Ibo not thinking home first before investing in other economically better regions?. After Landmark was given the boot out of Lagos for land grabbing, he relocated to Rivers State, he gave his own region the middle finger. The Lagos, PH, Abuja you mentioned up there, it will take 500 years before any state in the SE would catch up to 5% of their economic value.

The solution is rather simple...

Igbos should go back to their villages and stay there, those houses would instantly have economic value...

The solution is not investing in other people's land, where you would never have peace of mind and would be crying victimization when they demolish it...

It's not an unprecedented move, Igbos lived in villages in mud houses for over a millennia and they didn't die.

People who build mansions in the village are made men. They are not looking at the economic implications. Imagine say they go obi cubana house or blord and he no get signature house, nah rubbish.

nedu666:
Dr arinze is a foolish man. How can you not have a house in your village. Are you from sw or North. All the Northerners who are capable of building all have mansion in their village or state of origin. All the Yorubas working in oil companies in ph don't have houses there, rather they built mansion in the sw. Yet one stupid lgbo man is questioning why lgbos are building in the east. Foolish man

You can't compare SW or even Kano to the southeast. You couldn't even go home last December.

That one person that has been brainwashed into thinking that he is smarter than his ancestors.
He omitted the significance of nwadiala building a house in the village. Oga ask your elders the significance of building a house in the village and it is very stupid to tell a man how to spend his hard earned money