Life And People
On Obi Cubana Trending -By Rees Chikwendu
The problem of Ndi Igbo has never been about how to make money – but how to build and retain generational wealth. At the moment, the Igbos know acts of making money but have not learned the art of building generational wealth. The latter is where the problem is. Ironically, some Igbos claim Jewish origin but have not (yet) learned the Jewish art of building wealth passed down from generation to generation.
One thing you shouldn’t do is to envy people on how they choose to spend their money – whether they worked hard for it or not. That’s none of your business. You should also not label their money as ‘blood money.’ That is stupidity. The real blood money is the stolen wealth of your politicians who deny you and your children access to healthcare, schools, clean water, etc., and cause the deaths of many in society.
However, collectively as a people, we can learn from the unwise spending of those who made money but failed to build and retain wealth. We can advise ourselves and correct some mistakes of the past.
The problem of Ndi Igbo has never been about how to make money – but how to build and retain generational wealth. At the moment, the Igbos know acts of making money but have not learned the art of building generational wealth. The latter is where the problem is. Ironically, some Igbos claim Jewish origin but have not (yet) learned the Jewish art of building wealth passed down from generation to generation.
Some of our parents made money, but they did not build generational wealth due to a lack of foresight. That affected their children greatly. Somehow, it is not incorrect to say that money respects the Igbos – because they are good at making it – but the Igbos have to respect money, too, by being prudent money managers. I know Nigeria corrupted the Igbo money values through the 20 pounds policy after the genocidal war against them, but it’s time to bring back the right money culture that would help our children to build a better future.
