Economic recession: 5 books all Nigerian entrepreneurs must read

The present harsh economy is hitting hard on everyone. Companies are sacking workers and the search for jobs is becoming cumbersome day by day. 

It is no news that most Nigerians are now embracing self-employment as it seems to have become the only way to survive due to the state of the country.

The world of entrepreneurship is quite different from being an employee for somebody. It is not as easy as you think, most especially when you have no or little idea about what you want to engage in.

However, for every journey in life, there are challenges we encounter before reaching our destination. Here is a list of five major books that will teach you how to be successful in your business   

The Innovators dilemma by Clayton Christensen

Clayton in this book gives insight on why already established businesses fail no matter how large or solid the business is. According to him, what lead to successes of companies can also lead to their failures. It is a book worth reading as it reveals how you can successfully manage your business.

Think and Grow rich by Napoleon Hill

The book was written in 1937.  It is a book filled with ideas that will motivate you to reach the peak of your goals.  Napoleon tells you a story that gives you hope and inspires you to go for success amidst tribulations. After reading the book, you will learn that failure is accepting defeat in whatever you are doing and there is the need for you to always re-strategize and re-plan to achieve your goal.

The Psychology of selling by Brian Tracy

This book contains techniques, plans and strategies you can use in increasing your sales. it teaches you how to make more profit in any business than you expected. It is recorded that more people have been made millionaires by applying Tracy’s techniques in their businesses.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Kahneman’s book is saturated with intellectual ideas, and tips that lead to success. Apart from the emotional narratives in the book, it is also entertaining.  The book tells you how the human mind works in business and what works best in a particular scenario in the business world.

The Obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday

This book teaches you how to turn challenges into opportunity or trials to triumph. The author maintains that resilience and perseverance are the keys to success. After reading the book, I am sure you will see all challenges as a road to successful living.

It is important you find a little time to read the above-mentioned books. The world is fast changing and there are possibilities that you will remain stagnant when you do not have the necessary ideas and vision to move with it. 

The truth is something has to trigger you for more successes, these books definitely would make you stay on track and push forward irrespective of the situation you find yourself.

Fayose gives out 10m naira loan to tailors, Nigerians React

The governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose has begun the disbursement of ten million naira loans to tailors in Ekiti as part of his social security scheme.

This was announced yesterday in a tweet by chief press secretary of the governor, Lere Olayinka. According to the tweet, the loan scheme is to empower tailors in the state and improve the morale of entrepreneurship among the youths of the state.

However, some Nigerians have reacted to the loan scheme. See tweets below……….

AYEEN empowers 500 Nigerians, to intervene in Borno state restructuring programme

500 Nigerians were on the 25^th of November empowered by the Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs Empowerment Nigeria (AYEEN) after rigorous screening by the panel of judges. The empowered Nigerians are finalists who have scaled through various stages in the empowerment initiative.

Speaking in the events, the president of AYEEN, Mr Summy Smart Francis advised the beneficiaries to keep up with the hard work and be consistent in their dealing in the business world. He also charged the beneficiaries to use the resources given to them with utmost discipline and for the development of their business ideas.

Also, the Vice president of the initiate said that similar initiative will be created to empower Borno state indigenes. This she asserted was as a result of the insurgency in the region that has affected the state and displaced a large number of people and that the initiative is a partnership between AYEEN and Borno state government.

The beneficiaries who were filled with joy as the crowd cheers them were advised by the A.Y.E Chief Executive Matron, Mrs Folorunso Alakija to always push harder even when it seems impossible to move forward. Alakija enjoins them to make the best out of the opportunity presented to them to change the world and development of Nigeria.

Politics, Media and Economic development

The present economic reality of the country suggests that all available institutions in the country have to be on their toes to revive her economy. Every society is made up of institutions that contribute to its development. One of such institution is the mass media which are powerful tools for public orientation, sensitization, and awareness. 

The media is also a weapon for mass manipulation. No wonder, a former president of the United States said ‘were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter’. This shows the significance of the press in the society.

President Buhari rode to Aso rock on the Mantra that he will fight corruption to a standstill in Nigeria. Times without number, the president reiterated that corruption is the major problem hindering the development of the country. Indeed, the media has been very supportive of the president fight against corruption. 

At least, the media has identified with the president that there is a need to purge out corruption out of our system. However, it seems this is not enough as Nigeria has found herself in its worst economic recession in 29years according to the National Bureau of Statistics. 

The inability of the past administration to save for the rainy days, the overdependence on foreign products, and the fall in oil price are some major reasons identified by experts as the cause of Nigeria present economic woes.

In reactions to this, we have read on the pages of newspapers, news magazines, online media and seen on the screen of television on how the two major political parties play the blame game. 

Economic experts have been invited on television programmes, articles, and editorials have been written to analyze the present economic situation and also proffer solutions on ways to bring Nigeria out of economic recession. 

It will be an injustice to our media outlets to say they have been doing nothing to help the country, though the fight may not be enough; they have to an extent pulled one.

We are in a democratic dispensation which gives the media more freedom to operate, therefore, the media have all arsenal in its possession to propel the country out of the present state while maintaining in all ramification the journalistic principles of objectivity, fairness, and balance. On this, our media outlets should understand that national interest should be their major interest. 

Newspapers In Nigeria

Economic recession is a threat to national security and must be treated with utmost importance. Mass media serve as a forum of public orientation. Nigerians orientation on locally produced goods has to change. 

The truth is even if we stop the importation or ban foreign products and produce goods locally without Nigerians patronizing the goods, our purpose has been defeated. It is left to our media to work on Nigerians psyche on local products, encourage its purchase and we will have a reason to smile again.

Another agenda of the president regarding the economy is to encourage diversification. Nigeria overdependence on oil as its major source of revenue is telling on the country’s economy. The global oil price is not encouraging and the president has reiterated the need to explore other areas like Agriculture and solid minerals. 

This invariably means Nigerians have to pull down the gown of ‘its oil or nothing’ syndrome. The youth are therefore encouraged to divert their mental focus to agriculture. This is another solution to bring the country out of economic recession.

Instead of vulgar display of the wealth of celebrity in our national dailies, online medium, and magazines, power tussle among politicians, our focus should be on Agriculture- the media should encourage our youths to go farming. If this is aided with government effort, we will go far in terms of agriculture.  

The rate of unemployment has been on the rise over the years. Entrepreneurship has a role to play in economic development. The media, therefore, have a demanding task to promote self-development. Intense galvanization and mobilization of our youths to embrace entrepreneurship should be a major goal of our national media.

Furthermore, there is a need to identify another vital area in which our media outlets are performing below expectation. The country’s image in the international media has already being bastardized, subjected to ridicule and painted negatively. This will get worst when investors see your media being pessimistic about you. 

This is quite bad when you look at it from the angle of foreign investment. No investor will invest in a country where all around the news media is portrayed negatively. The truth is we don’t like their story and according to a Nigeria literary icon, Late Chinua Achebe ‘if you don’t like someone’s story, write your own’, he told the Paris review in 1994. Our media outlets should write our stories positively. Irrespective of our other side, Nigeria has her good side. 

Our media should not be used to fight us. When investors see you in good light, they are attracted to you without fear. They invest in your country. This is good for us at this time.

However, it should be noted that a corrupt institution driven by personal and ownership interests will find it hard to play the key roles stated above. Nigerian journalists have to purge out corruption out of their system. Corrupt journalists may be worse than corrupt judges because they have the power to vitiate the moral fabric of the society. They are dangerous to the bones and blood of the society. 

In Philippine, the present president vowed to kill corrupt journalists. One may not blame him because to get rid of corruption; you have to get rid of corruption first in the press. Our media men and women should lead by examples because their connection and interaction with other key institutions will go a long way in leading Nigeria out of her present economic misery.

Contact Omolaoye Sodiq on Kennisworld4real@gmail.com

Nigeria, her unrepentant elites and gullible masses

By Omolaoye Sodiq

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country…- Edward Bernays.

Before anything else, permit me to share why manipulation of the masses may not come to end in most part of the world, at least for centuries to come. The global economy has been structured by the world power to benefit just a
few people in the society. This system is known as capitalism, Nigeria falls in here. In this system, we have just few rich people who make use of the labour of the poor ones to enrich themselves. There is no regulation of how much you can own. Every individual is given freedom to possess as much
as he/she can. Before now, there are a lot of scholarly predictions that
this system will be abolished and another system known as communism would be embraced. Communism preaches for a classless society where all
individuals are equal and resources are shared according to needs and want. This communist system sounds great in theory but it is highly unrealistic. Lending credence to this is the revolution of 1989 that led to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The fall of Soviet Union was as a result of the ideological rivalry that exists between powers in the Western Bloc and powers in the Eastern Bloc.

This analogy is important as it brings to our memory why the present global economy system has come to stay. However, this global economy system has led to the development of many countries that they are now tagged developed
countries. In these Nations are the elites and the masses whose lives have been improved by the state resources. But, in the case of my dear country, it is a different narrative. This, therefore, means the problem is not in the system, but in the people. The gullible and unwise masses are being led by the rich who have been corrupted by power. Absolutely, what the elites now have are bad and vicious intentions for the people. If you do not belong or have someone who belongs to the hegemonic clout, you will suffer.

The pain felt by the masses is not enough reason for the powerful ones to reconsider their devilish actions and make adjustments. They steal yourmoney without remorse, use the military apparatus to silent you when you speak. Our fathers and mothers are made to pay dearly for their own
mistakes. They are your real enemies, not your next neighbour who is also struggling to make ends meet. Not the woman in your village who peeped through the window and saw you while traveling to the city. You dear not question them because they act like demi-gods. The future of our unborn kids looks darker due to the set of leaders we have today. Why blame them though when we are the cause of our own misfortune? We deserve our present
crops of leaders. A saying goes that the way you present yourself
determines how people treat you. We are treated like slaves in our country.

For instance, in the Northern Nigeria, there exists the Almajiri system
where innocent dirty clad children, both the ones who have parents and
orphans are littered all over the street, begging for money, cloth and
rampant of foods from passer-byes. An article written by Professor Idris
Abdulqadir has it that Almajiri system has practiced in Northern Nigeria is dated back to the pre-colonial era. The coming of the colonial masters bastardized the system as begging and doing menial jobs by children were never involved. However, it has been 56years since the British left us and in the short history of our dear country, the Northern region produced most
of our Head of state and Presidents. Majority of members of the house of
assembly, Directors of Agencies and ministries, and even Heads of our
military and Para-military are from the North, yet the Almajiri system
which the Colonial masters were accused of debasing keeps flourishing. What does this mean? The hegemonic class or Northern elites are pleased with the system because it favours them. As long as the class domination will be
maintained, the Almajiri system must not stop. If it does, who will act as slaves to the masters and be used as machinery to attack perceived political enemies?

In the down South, especially the western part, what you witness is an
unending loyalty to the elites by jobless and gullible youths. You also
experience the stomach infrastructure system in display. During elections, the best way to get them vote for you is to promise them half–loaf of bread, or you go to Thailand to export rice because they do not eat local one. Or less I forget, a ban has been placed on rice importation, you have to look for alternative on how to bring them foreign rice unless the final result of the pool may not favour you. What my Yoruba brothers are good at
is chest beating and claim that they are more educated than other regions but I believed they are suffering from the illusion of knowledge. They claimed in each household you go, at least a professor is waiting for you.
What is the essence of having numerous professors and you still act and think like Motor Park tout?

Also, my South-South and Southeast people took their naivety to another level. They are very good in defending corrupt politicians. In recent times, they have upgraded. Protests upon protest are staged in the East to support those who have milked them dry. They refused to read the handwriting on the wall that the elites do not care about them nor their unborn generations but their own bank accounts. In pages of newspapers and television screen, you see them with placards chanting all around the street of Abuja and Niger-delta defending a political office holder who does not give a dime about you or making your community a better place to
live. Remember that posterity will judge us.

Also, by using the belief the masses have in God, those in the realms of
power are cynically manipulating them. The Imams and Pastors now wine and dine with the political class, in so doing, their bank accounts are pumped up with dollars. As days roll by, they become fatter and even now, these clerics are among the richest in the world while they keep telling you to respect and pray for your leaders irrespective of your present situation. Tell me, does a heinous leader deserves the people’s blessing? Do leaders, who are self-centred, greedy, ruthless and inconsiderate, a point to remember in one’s connection with the almighty? Religion is indeed the opium of the people. It subdues us and leaves us weak to the whims of the powerful in the society. It is a pity that we have gotten to this state. The solution is within us. If the elites choose to be unrepentant, the masses should not choose to be fool enough to swallow anything. There is a need for proper re-orientation. There may be no point in reinventing the wheel or using sledgehammer to crack a nut, but it is right to set the record straight.

Most developed countries today had experienced what we are passing through, but because of the masses doggedness, tenacity and dogmatism against the vicious oppression by the elites, they were able to pull their country together for prosperity. Nigerians should stop celebrating corrupt politicians, we should learn to choose our leaders in the right way, and all form of social injustice and political oppression should be firmly rejected unless we may just discover that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an upcoming train.