PEOPLE & POVERTY –
PP
(A Nigerian Problem) –
by Akin Farmar
It is time for
us as a nation, for us youths to rise to the occasion and above mediocrity and
ultimately stepping up to change! Election is over now in Nigeria and elections
in the past has never done our future any good for the last 50years plus.
The time is
now! Time to re-think our future! Time to act is now!
We cannot just
rely on mobilizing ourselves every 4 years for elections only, elections or
government is not going to change our country for us, look at the history and
record nothing to show as a positive outcome, therefore we as a people, as
youths need to act now, change ourselves, re-think our future, create the
future we want, begin to make positive impact at the grassroot up, at the local
communities, creating champions and leaders that little kids can look up to,
helping one another as human beings, organizing local charity events and giving
back to our communities – that is how we create true change and true leaders.
The power is
with us the people, not the government. People like you and I are in the
government therefore they cannot do it all, we as the majority people have the
power to change our story and our conditions.
In 2019
Nigerian elections we witness a lot of young minds step up to run for office
and we also witness youths in mass come out to support themselves, but we all
know the political structure in Nigeria is not fair.
Since elections
are over now, and we know those that the elections favored, we need not fall
back to relax and say to ourselves see you next 4 years. It is time to find
solutions to the problems facing our youths, our communities, our lifestyles.
We can identify all the problems facing us as a nation and the number one is POVERTY!
Our poverty level in the world is the highest compared to other nations. How
come?
A nation with
high numbers of college/university graduates, a nation with oil & gas and
other natural mineral resources, a nation with fertile soil, a nation with a
young population and the median age in Nigeria is 20years old, a nation who boast
of 4 world billionaires listed on the Forbes wealthiest list of people, yet the
poverty level in Nigeria ranks highest in the world. The irony, is that we have
nations in Africa and in other continents without a single billionaire and
without any natural mineral resources still they are not considered the poverty
capital of the world.
We as a nation,
we as youth can start now by addressing the unemployment rate in our
communities, we need to come together with a clear vision to invest in
ourselves, create businesses in our communities, build from small scale to
medium to large enterprises, we can do it because we have the numbers and the
brains to do it.
In 2016 nearly
a million people applied for 10,000 listed positions in the Nigerian Police force,
in 2017 700k people applied for just 500 positions at the Federal tax agency, I
call that ridiculousness, this must change and we as a people need to change it
not the government.
I once saw
somewhere a quote – Nigerians are the happiest people in the world, the irony,
that is true. In extreme poverty Nigerians will find a way to hit the bar &
joints every weekend starting their happy hour from like Wednesday, every weekend
there is always a party or big celebration somewhere. Even though poverty is prevalent,
most folks in Nigeria will rather use the last money on them to enjoy a cold beverage
at a bar.
Re-thinking our
future and applying people strategy can go a long way in the struggles but it can
initiate the process of change for all. What do I mean?
This is the reason
I started my company called SimplyMiddle -SM, helping one small business owner,
one small idea at a time. We have the numbers in this country, thousands of
graduates, thousands of unemployed youths, therefore thinking that the only way
to make it in Nigeria is to go into politics or to seek government jobs or to
become a Pastor, we can start investing in ourselves, creating businesses like
never before, business villages, fashion villages, tech hubs, shoe factories
& shoe villages and so on. China did it, Taiwan did it, Vietnam did it, and
we can do it. We can have more (Aba’s) and the likes, more mechanic training
schools for boys and girls, more technical training schools for boys and girls
that way when we see a young girl in her own workshop working on a car or
repairing a generator, we won’t be surprised rather her contributions to the community
will help eradicate poverty.
SimplyMiddle
already have hundreds of young business owners, entrepreneurs signed up as SM
Members for free, the goal is to create access for funding opportunities to
expand your business, or to start a new venture from an idea. SM helps raise
funds and invest in genuine and serious businesses. It is very difficult to
secure a business loan or investment funding in Nigeria from the banks,
therefore SM model relies on the power of numbers for funding.
Imagine 1000
people donating 1k naira each that translates to 1 million naira, therefore
instead of using that 1k naira for a bottle of cold beverage, you can donate
towards creating jobs for more than 5 people by donating towards SM small
business owners. SM will allocate and Invest in reliable SM community members
that will in turn grow their business and be able to provide employment to
others. SM will monitor the growth of these businesses and hold them accountable
for the investment funds. Let’s take for example, investing in 10 to 20 small
business a year can in turn create hundreds of jobs for the community.
Think about it,
it takes our ideas and our hard work to change Nigeria to what we want her to
be. I become unhappy and very sad at the same time when most calls and messages
from Nigeria to folks abroad is to ask for money for food, money for tuition,
money for rent and so on. They tell you what you already know that Nigeria is
hard, the struggles is getting worse daily and they wish to travel out of
Nigeria. We can change our story if we put in all the work, it will take each
one of us both in Nigeria and in diaspora to fix the problems. Less of talking,
less of article write-ups, less of just sharing articles of what is wrong in
Nigeria, less of pointing blames on others, less of doing nothing but more of
little actions from the ground up, more of contributing your ideas to a
positive change and doing the work.
This is the
reason SimplyMiddle was created, my own way of contributing to change in Nigeria,
many more ideas from others can help us move closer to a better tomorrow. No
matter how small or big your idea may be, some will call it stupid idea, some
will call it unrealistic, some will call it too big and won’t work, I say to
you JUST DO IT! Believing and just doing it has helped United States of America
advance to where they are today. Join me by joining www.simplymiddle.com SM for free and by
donating towards creating /investing in small businesses in Nigeria, let’s do
it together now and not in the next 4 years.
Join www.simpymiddle.com for free and donate at
GTB bank account 0172762846 for a positive impact in Nigeria.
You can also donate XRP to SimplyMiddle
using ILP:
$twitter.xrptipbot.com/SimplyMiddleOr
Donate XRP to SimplyMiddle:
Destination tag
rPEPPER7kfTD9w2To4CQk6UCfuHM9c6GDY
Destination tag
6402927One
business owner, one entrepreneur, and one Idea at a Time!
