The Hoax Of Living In An Financially Endowed State
There's this belief that living in an urban area, paying those huge utility bills and being familiar with city life eventually provides your more financial exposure or chances. This is probably why Lagos state in Nigeria is one of the most populated cities in Africa. This is a major iota of truth to this, urban settings are the base for industrialization.
When you have a lot of people moving, building, setting up businesses and relocating to a particular area, the standard of that place begins to rise, because of the increasing demand for things like land and housing warrants the need for derived demand will exist for things like electricity and good road and this is why the people who are always early adopters in a place are always winners in the long run when that place develops and begins to attract attention.
However, for people who are not directly fighting unemployment or competing for jobs in big Competitive cities, living in an urban area with a crazy level of increasing migration is a no-brainer. Every year, people from different part of Nigeria are moving to Lagos, because there's the belief that it offers more opportunities than others states. This can be seldom true.
However, this level of migration is why Lagos is almost impossible to survive in. Big companies are situated in some geographical area and this makes it possible to exploit job seekers who are now faced with the dilemma of going back to where they are coming from or accepting the low paying jobs with overrated bills. Living in terrible conditions and paying outrageous fees.
One of the reasons why people choose to cope with the terrible but expensive conditions of living in Lagos is because of the uncertainty of choosing to live in other places. A lot of people believe that if you can't get rich in Lagos, then you can't get rich anywhere else. This isn't completely true. The unemployment rate in Nigeria is scattered across the states, and the competition in Lagos makes it worse.
Imagine being unemployed and still battling cost-push inflation, or working a job 9 hours a day and hardly getting an increment in 3-4 years and still having to buy things at a more expensive rate with a static income. Living in Lagos is overrated, the mindset that everyone will inadvertently make it big because it filled with endless opportunities is a hoax.
The people who will make it big, will definitely do. While some others will only struggle in the attempt to do so, the resources and the provision is provided only for a few privileged, while the lower job opportunities for those who are willing to take scraps and turn it into gold. Another thing is.
The class phenomenon will always remain in place. People are beginning to ignore the prospects In rural areas, and this is alarming. For someone as me, no place will completely remain rural in a country for a long period of time, this is why landed properties will always appreciate no matter the location. This is because land has utility: for cultivation and other infrastructural purposes.
In Lagos, however, landowners are like feudal lords of the 15th century. Exploiting the fact that scarcity is a thing. Truth is, many people are becoming outrageously wealthy as a result of scarcity, for people who live in Lagos, this is strictly business and nothing more, however the real state of existence in a place like Lagos is having people who are working and earning quite well, but made poor as a result of inflation, competition and exploitation.
It's a state of mindlessness which many people are failing to be cognizant with. The only way this can stop is if Lagos can experience a mass depopulation into other neighboring states. Firms and businesses will have no other choice but to move as well, because the money moves where the people go. (In my next post, I'll talk about the gains of choosing rurality in a competitive state as Lagos)
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I kind of wanted to point out somethings and provide a counter argument on very small issues. But its would take away from the overall point of your post.
The way you broad brushed the issues, did make them easily translated into other nations. For in the USA you described to a T what is happening here.
Just that the people are moving to where the money is in USA and from the whole world for that matter and the money moves to where they don't have to contribute back to the society but rather take the tax rebates.
I can go on but you pretty much precisely touched on a sensitive subject that affects us all on so many levels. Globalization has caused unsustainable movements of people just so governments and corporations can exploit the migrants, nations and the native peoples for their resources.
By all means, please feel free to do so, it would mean that one cannot look at a topic like this from Just one perspective like I have done
Truth is, you're right, In Lagos as a big sophisticated city. The government hoard the most lucrative opportunity to their families, associates, while leaving a lot of scraps for the masses to actually gnaw on.
It's why paying tax in Nigeria is a wastage of one's money. Everyone here wants to exploit their neighbours, friends and even people close to them, raising the inflation levels without any form of regulation. It's a shit show here buddy, a big shit show
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I agree with you. I lived in Lagos for two years after service, it’s a hoax, if one is lucky, you’re bribed with high paying salary that gets spent on outrageous house rent and other basic amenities, at the end of the day, there’s no account for the salary. Living in Lagos would have been better if there were some types of regulations in place, but everybody wants to exploit everybody. It’s crazy
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You're right, everyone actually wants to exploit everyone with every slightest opportunity making it cut throat and utterly expensive. I've lived in Lagos all my life and as an adult, I think I'll have to move, the thoughts that living in Lagos can make you rich is an absolute hoax. You get paid well but you're getting poorer.
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Just wondering, is there a voting system for the people in Nigeria or not? I tend to see the idea of largely populated cities being prioritized more because of the sheer number of votes they can be. At least from that point of view, targeting the people in the cities is better while the urban area tends to have less issues because it lacks the focus the politicians have over the area.
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The system isn't structure to follow a particular framework and hence that is why it keeps failing. The cities that are proritised are the ones that the other part of the world see. They're only framed to work for people who are connected.
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Living in Lagos is surely overrated. While I was in the primary school, I could remember my teacher say that that a lizard in Nigeria is a lizard anywhere. He made use of this sentence while talking about people trying all means to migrate in search of greener pastures. He explained that opportunities are everywhere, it depends on how you can see them that determines how you can make use of them where ever you are.
The same thing goes to people trying to migrate to Lagos, it bothers me to know that in some places, 15 to 13 people sleep on the floor, together in a room overnight, how on earth are they convenient, to worsen matters, they still bring more people from their villages.
The fact is that, even if some people migrate to paradise, they would not still see opportunities to make use of.
Although location might be a huge factor, but I would say that, it whole depends on the person, not the location.
This happens a lot with people from the North who are coming to Lagos to see a means of livelihood.
The fact that people living in other States feels that is a honeypot of opportunities is why you have overpopulation which makes it difficult to even get the opportunity that you originally migrated to Lagos for.
This is almost the same with people who are going to overseas without having a solid plan of the jobs they are going to do and how they're going to add value to get financial reward.
It is why the people who are at the bottom of the echelon are the ones who get affected in the competition for the resources that are available.
Thank you for the amazing comment.
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Logically thinking, in places like Lagos. People who migrate there either add themselves to the the opportunities for the rich to make more money, or add themselves to the rich to make use of other people’s needs as an opportunity, the probability in this case is 70/30 respectively.
You're absolutely correct, moreover, many people do not care if they are working for others. Lagos is a place that imbues hope into people, it brings a sense of hustle and the stories of people who had made it beyond all odds. At the end of the day, when people go to other places and put the same energy they put for being at Lagos, they would have found out that they have been wasting their time
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