By Unknown Author(s)
First and foremost, look up to the LORD God Almighty from Whom comes all help, spiritual and physical.
It is no longer news that financial noose has been tightened around the neck of Nigeria and indeed the global economy.
In times like these when leaders appear lost and uncreative, there is the need for attitudinal twist to avert being swept away by sudden economic tide.
1. If you are an applicant take the next available offered job even if it is below your dream job. Why not consider creating the dream, like Dangote,rather than benefiting from somebody’s
2. Buy only items that are considered as necessities. Postpone all luxurious articles till later dates.
3. Forget about living a life to satisfy others’ expectation at the expense of your purse, income or convenience.
4. Avert taking unnecessary risk in your place of work or business that has the possibility of making you loose your job or major client.
5. Be committed to your profession, job or business more than ever before.
6. Re-evaluate your recurrent expenditure pattern like children school fees and effect necessary changes if found beyond your income line.
7. If you are blessed with many cars try and use those with less fuel consumption capacity. You may have to combine outings instead of members of the family taking different cars out for combinable outings.
8. Except you can afford it, resist all Aso Ebi or color of clothes made mandatory by a person inviting you to a ceremony. Nobody will prevent you from entering the venue even with odd dress. If they won’t accept you for you, then stay at home!
9. Avert social functions that will tell terribly on your finances in terms of distance and the content of the Programme. Why not just send ‘envelope’ if you can afford it, to the organizer instead.
10. Let those asking you for money know that things are no longer the same: stop pretending at your expense. Stop suffering in silence. When the chips are down you will be alone.
11. Notwithstanding any promise to the contrary, avoid lending money to anyone an amount which if you don’t receive on time will hurt your financial stability. Many friendly loans will be irrecoverable now as many expectation will be dashed. Don’t ever loan out what you cannot forfeit!
12. If you are a tenant living in a rented palatial apartment with many rooms left unutilized, it is high time you got a smaller accommodation.
13. Where the house is yours and most of your children are adult leaving you and your spouse in a big apartment with less than half of the house being utilized, quickly consider modifying the house into smaller units with the possibility of earning rental income. Make that house an asset giving you income, rather than a liability eating your income.
In these hard times, ask yourself always, is this property of mine, an asset or a liability. The difference? One makes income, the other eats it up.
14. Plan only on funds at hand, avoid permutations based on promise made by others. In a time like this, the promiser may fail.
15. Where it is possible, talk things over on phone with people rather than putting your car on the road for physical meeting. In addition avoid endless fruitless banters on phone. Be conscious of the call card cost and data usage.
16. If you have a large retinue of hangers-on around you reduce the frequencies of meals.
17. Shut all lights that are not required in your house to minimize the energy bills.
18. Do more physical exercise to minimize constant requirement of drugs. Learn to trek short distances, it helps to improve your health and relive you of avoidable small expenses.
19. If the regular food in your house is becoming dearer look for alternative. For instance yam is a good substitute for bread in the morning.
20. If you will bear heavy responsibility in an event, insist on moderate programme in line with the amount you could afford, you could save some finances.
My dear fellow Nigerians. Let’s together be prayerful and positive minded that by the grace of God, we shall surely overcome this hard time soon.
God is forever faithful, always hearing and answering prayers said according to His will.