Wealth

By Haroon Aremu,

In a vox pop, when they asked a simple question on the streets of Europe and America: “Which country is the poorest in the world?” The answers came quickly, confidently, and shockingly wrong.

“Africa.” “Africa is the poorest.” “Africa.” Not one voice hesitated. Not one voice paused to rethink. And therein lies the tragedy not of Africa, but of global ignorance because Africa is not a country. Africa is a continent. And more dangerously, Africa is not poor.

The birth of lies of how Africa became a Global stereotype. For decades, Africa has been reduced to a single, distorted image: poverty, hunger, conflict, corruption, and helplessness.

In global media narratives, Africa is often portrayed as a land of endless crises children with distended bellies, dusty villages, and hopeless economies. These images have travelled faster than facts, shaping how the world perceives the continent.

But stereotypes are not truths. They are shortcuts of ignorance. The reality is far more complex and far more powerful. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, is often caricatured as a land of scams, insecurity, and chaos.

Yet Nigeria is also one of Africa’s biggest economy by GDP, global hub of music, film, and tech innovation, home to billion-dollar startups and Africa’s largest film industry (Nollywood), and one of the world’s leading producers of oil and gas. Nigeria’s problem is not poverty of resources it is poverty of governance.

Ghana is frequently portrayed as a quiet, underdeveloped state. But Ghana is one of Africa’s most stable democracies, a major producer of gold and cocoa, a growing tech and fintech hub, and a country with rising middle-class influence and strong diaspora impact. Ghana is not poor. It is strategically under-recognised.

South Africa is often stereotyped as a crime-ridden society haunted by racial inequality. But in reality South Africa is also Africa’s most industrialised economy. It is a home to advanced infrastructure and global corporations and also one of the world’s largest producers of platinum, gold, and diamonds. Its challenge is inequality, not lack of wealth.

Kenya is a “Tech Savannah Ignored”. Kenya is often reduced to safaris and wildlife documentaries. But Kenya is East Africa’s innovation capital, home to M-Pesa, one of the world’s most revolutionary digital payment systems. Kenya is a regional hub for startups, logistics, and global investment. Kenya is not backward. It is digitally ahead of many Western economies.

Countries like Sierra Leone and Benin Republic are often dismissed as “poor African states.” But Sierra Leone has rich mineral resources, including diamonds and iron ore. It is a growing post-war economy and youthful innovation sector.

Benin Republic has strategic trade routes and ports with a vibrant informal economy and cultural influence across West Africa. Their struggles are historical and structural—not natural. 

Here is the irony the world refuses to confront, Africa holds an enormous share of the world’s natural wealth. The continent possesses about 30% of the world’s mineral resources, including gold, diamonds, cobalt, platinum, and uranium. Africa is home to vast reserves of oil, gas, rare earth minerals, and agricultural land that the world depends on. 

One of the most persistent and misleading stereotypes about African countries is the belief that Africans are largely uneducated, technologically backward, and incapable of innovation without foreign intervention. This narrative suggests that modern ideas, digital skills, and scientific breakthroughs are imported into Africa rather than created within it.

Yet this claim collapses under reality: African youths are building global tech startups, engineers are designing fintech systems used by millions, filmmakers are reshaping global entertainment, and researchers are contributing to science and medicine across continents. 

The problem has never been a lack of intelligence or creativity; it has been the lack of global recognition and supportive systems to amplify Africa’s homegrown brilliance. 

If wealth were measured by resources alone, Africa would not be poor. It would be unbeatable. So why does the world think Africa is poor? Because poverty is not just economic, it is political.

Africa is not poor in resources. Africa is poor in systems, leadership accountability, and equitable distribution of wealth. And that is not the fault of ordinary Africans.

The truth is painful, Africa is rich, but Africans are made poor by mismanagement. Africa is powerful, but its power is fragmented by borders and politics. Africa is wealthy, but its wealth is exported cheaply and imported expensively.

The vox pop passers-by responded to is a classic case of when ignorance meets reality. When people on Western streets say, “Africa is the poorest country,” they are not entirely guilty. They are victims of narratives created by western media framing, historical colonial distortions, and Africa’s own failure to tell its story convincingly.

The real question is not why foreigners think Africa is poor. The real question is why has Africa allowed the world to believe a lie? Imagine if Africa were one country. What if Africa was not divided into 54 countries? What if Africa spoke with one voice, traded with one currency, and defended its interests collectively?

Even in its current fragmented state, Africa remains the world’s most resource-rich continent. If united, it would not beg. It would dictate.

Africa is not poor, Africa is plundered. Africa is not the poorest place on earth. Africa is the most misunderstood. Africa is not lacking in wealth. Africa is lacking in systems that protect its wealth. Africa is not a burden to the world. Africa is the world’s hidden backbone.  

Until African governments rise to prove this reality, not with speeches, but with structures, the lie will continue to travel faster than the truth.

But history has a way of correcting lies. And when Africa finally tells its story in its own voice, the world will discover a shocking truth: The poorest continent was never Africa. The poorest thing about Africa was how the world chose to see it.

Haroon Aremu Abiodun is a Nigerian writer and wrote in via exponentumera@gmail.com.

By Rabiu Sirajo Toro

How hackers manage to compromise people’s accounts, particularly on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and especially WhatsApp, and often send messages to the contacts of the account owner, requesting money for account details that do not match the owner’s name is baffling.

They frequently claim that network glitches or limits have been exceeded to justify their requests.

This situation has occurred multiple times, yet people seem to overlook it. It’s essential to consider the different account details compared to the owner’s, as well as the context in which the message is written.

Some messages might be the first communication between two individuals, leading the recipient to act without hesitation. Instead of questioning or calling the person for confirmation, they may decide to send money immediately.

We must remain vigilant regarding anything related to money and property, as scammers are becoming more prevalent.

Many people are looking for quick and questionable wealth by any means possible.The first time I received such a message from someone of high status, I promptly contacted the owner of the phone number and discovered that I was the first person to inform her about the incident.

Whenever you receive a message that seems abnormal in your daily chats, especially one that involves a request for money, it is crucial to call that person for confirmation if you can’t ignore it.

For added security, anyone you are involved in business with or who might send you money should always confirm transactions first, preferably through phone calls rather than platforms alone or physical meetings are preferable for any monetary exchange.

We must make an effort to remember these incidents and protect ourselves from scammers.

Rabiu Sirajo wrote in from Toro Local Government Area in Bauchi State.

By Mohammed Usman (Noble-pen)

I often see people confidently saying the above statement, especially to sway someone’s mind and make him subscribe to their opinion. And most of them don’t care to take the time to think about it thoroughly. 

On the surface, the statement is true and leaves susceptible minds with no option but to agree. But suppose we subject it to close examination, broaden our lens of thinking horizon, and look at it from a different angle. In that case, we realise that the statement is not as accurate as it is often considered. 

Most people quickly make this statement; they merely take the case study of low-level salary earners working for a government or at a government ministry and then confidently make this sweeping statement: “No one ever makes rich with salary.” 

Suppose we hover our thinking over those low-level salary earners at government ministries and those holding miniature academic certificates. In that case, we cannot deny that no one among them, or hardly one among them, becomes rich with salary because the amount most of them receive as salary can only keep them breath and save them from dying of absolute starvation. They are mere slaves. 

Worst still, some people have very little or no savings and investment power. The rate of their disposal out of the salary outweighs that of their savings by a large percentage. They are living hand to mouth. 

However, no one can tell me that those holding advanced academic certificates and working in top levels of government, national and multinational corporations, and organisations (nongovernmental) that they are not making rich with their salary. Even the low-level workers in such organisations and corporations are getting rich! 

Therefore, the above statement is false whenever we look at it from this angle. And so we advise those people making the statement to reframe it accordingly because they are not right. 

In any case, the word “Richness” is subjective. Different people perceive and interpret it differently depending on their different life orientations. Some perceive and interpret being rich as only when you garner, in large profusion, materialistic things. Some interpret being rich as being able to manage scarce resources to attain satisfaction. Therefore, in this class, a poor person is greedy, always looking for more and more, and never gets satisfied with what he has. I belong to this class of people. 

If a person wants to work to earn a salary and sustain a living, let him do it. And that makes him no less reasonable than someone aspiring to enter a business venture. It is called “Individual and personal opinion”. By the way, it would not be brilliant to expect everyone to become a business owner or own a business venture or enterprise for a living.

But of course, business is worth it, especially in this current global economy. It offers numerous benefits to individuals, society, and the economy, such as : (1) Job Creation: Businesses create jobs which help people earn a living and improve their standard of living. They provide employment opportunities for workers of all levels of education and experience ; (2) Economic Growth: Businesses contribute to economic growth by generating revenue, investing in research and development, and creating new markets and industries. This, in turn, stimulates economic activity and raises the standard of living for everyone…. You can mention the others! 

So whether business or salary earning, the end is the same: “to earn a living”, and being rich, as I said above, is a subjective case. 

Thank you 

Mohammed Usman (Noble-pen) wrote via mohammedusman5706@gmail.com.

By Alkasim Harisu Alkasim

Often, the people that idolise going to school are arguably the ones who, in the long run, turn out to be stinking poor. This is to paraphrase a friend that ardently considers schooling a total waste of time. This assertion is controversial. But, is my friend spot-on or not? It is, to some extent. Still, I have my buts. 

This argument has often generated a heated debate amongst us. Whenever it comes to my mind, it reminds me of Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The writer dissects factors that hinder the learned from earning big bucks. Kiyosaki argues that going to school is the biggest hurdle that denies one the chance to make a bank. He opines that a person spends twenty to thirty years worshipping books, yet, over that period, he scarcely becomes a big gun. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, one ends up jobless after this long journey. 

Debunking formal education, Kiyosaki argues that a person is not taught a single subject on how to make money from primary school to university education. The conventional subjects such as chemistry, physics, literature, etc., are what one seriously enrols in. In his opinion, students should be taught topics such as financial education. Education indeed discourages one from accepting jobs that are not money-spinning. For instance, somebody with a Master’s degree or PhD will feel ashamed to sew for a living, not to talk of driving the commercial tricycle (aka A Daidaita Sahu). 

Are the graduates the only ones to blame? This is a question we should all ponder. The government is blameworthy too. Like it or not, the government cannot give everybody a job. True. But it can establish a conducive environment to doing other jobs. I have never hunted for gainful employment, thanks to my passion for academia. I know this job in Nigeria does not make you a money bag. Yet, I have for long picked interest in it.

In the developed and even some developing economies, the private sector employs a great score of people. The government creates an environment that will aid it to carry out its businesses for the sector. Private sectors pay handsomely in such countries, especially in the western world. I wondered if you know that employment is scarce even in the UK. Even the rampant lack of jobs causes deviance and other criminal acts there. (See Haralambos and Holborn’s book on Sociology).

Of course, we walk tall. We don’t want to do what society looks down on. However, some of us make an exception here. I know of a person with a First Class honours degree in engineering who humbled himself and took up a job many of us can’t do. He ekes out his livelihood from selling coals, taking pride in it. He sees the world of the little he earns from what he sells. Life goes on. Nothing reduces his charm.

I was once in India for a higher degree. There, I saw a lot of wonders. We had a cook in our university who is a master in political science. It is said that people with first degrees in India outnumber the whole population of France. Remember, India is the second-most populous country in the world. Imagine somebody in Nigeria cooking for a living. I don’t say we can’t find one. But rarely can you find more than two in your quarters. Of course, people with degrees, or even diplomas in Nigeria, feel too big to do lowly jobs. I, nevertheless, think our arrogance is reducing because you can now see graduates doing menial jobs. Why not? There is a score of jobless First Class students roaming the streets.

I submit that people with higher educational qualifications always end up jobless or not raking it. People with lower qualifications or no qualifications are the ones that are the business moguls. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Aliko Dangote are textbook examples. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard, and he is now stinking rich. 

Indeed, formal education discourages and slows down creativity. It also dampens one’s enthusiasm. Honestly, the way an avid reader confines himself in his study speeds his entrepreneurial death. This is nothing but creative imprisonment. Whenever in his study, the reader seems to imprison his creative faculty in books. He brims with wishful thinking,  ideals and all what-have-yous owing to his fervent reading of all sorts of books. 

Having read a lot, he begins to idealise the world. He pictures and pores over how the world should be. But this is just his wildest dream. In his attempt to make the ancient Greece an ideal state, Socrates lost his life. He was sentenced to death for being a corrupt influence. In his book The Republic, Plato also romanticised how Greece should be,  how rulers should lead, the type of people to obtain in a state, and those exiled. After all, he died not having his dreams fulfilled.

Not very long ago, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels conceptualised and advocated a classless society in their works. For instance, they co-authored a book titled Communist Manifesto. In the book, they discussed how the masses could emancipate themselves from the domination of the bourgeoisie. In his three-volume book Das Kapital, Marx critically studied the architecture of the economies of European societies. Unfortunately, most of the ideations and philosophies of these great thinkers flopped. For instance, Marx’s classless society idealised where all and sundry would live equally has yet to happen. Marx, who died an atheist, lacked the knowledge that such a classless state is a paradise. So said Dr. Saidu Ahmad Dukawa.

May Allah awaken and help us embrace the realities of today’s world. May we not feel too big to do the most menial jobs we can find around. The journey is long. You can start unimportant and end up important, and vice versa. Remember that Margaret Thatcher was from a lower-class family. She went through rigours to make it to the upper class. 

Wonderfully, Thatcher became the first female UK Prime Minister. She was even taught how to speak, walk, and act in an upper-class-like way when voted into office. Like the UK and other democratically capitalistic countries, Nigeria also allows social mobility. Thus, try to move up the economic ladder. Just give it your best shot. You can. I, rest assured, know you can.

Alkasim Harisu Alkasim wrote from Kano via alkasabba10@gmail.com.