Before, it used to be only the Forbes magazine that celebrates the wealth of the world’s billionaires. Then Bloomberg magazine came on board, and now, we have the Ventures magazine in Africa, which is patterned after Forbes. It should surprise no one that the world now worships money. With such publications, the hunger to do whatever it takes to be on them has risen in many people. This is what is fuelling corruption, not just in Africa, but across the world.
In one of the editions of Forbes, the magazine detailed the extreme steps a Saudi prince, Alwaleed, took just to ensure he was listed as one of the top ten richest people in the world. According to Forbes, the prince went as far as inducing its journalists to give him favourable estimation.
It is good to be wealthy; it is good to live a life of comfort, but there should be a time when one should know that enough is enough, especially in a world where billions of people still go to bed hungry.
The ultra-wealthy should no longer celebrate being rich, because in the end, nothing matters; not the huge billions, or the mansions, or the planes and yatchs, but the legacy one leaves behind. People like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, among others, no longer strive to make more money. The money just keeps multiplying because they have created a system that works without them putting any effort into it.
And as Gates makes more money, he spends more on charity in developing countries.
However, there are many people who are just engulfed with the illusion of being named among the world’s richest people, and they are doing everything to make more money, with majority of them making it at the expense of poor people. This is the reason why there is huge corruption in Africa, and in Nigeria in particular.
It is high time we changed our focus. While there is nothing wrong with becoming billionaires, we should not be driven by such passion to make money at all cost. When one is driven negatively by such passion, then one would do just anything to make the money. Rather, we should realise that a time will come when there will be a limit to the money we need. At such a time, we should learn to assist the less-privileged with the excess we have.
For me, a decent house, two or three cars, enough money to go on vacations to anywhere in the world, will make me much more comfortable in life. I don’t need to be a billionaire to enjoy this.
Vincent T. Udoh
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