Former Nigerian Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says the flamboyant lifestyle of Nigerian business owners is unsustainable for the businesses they run.
Osinbajo said this on Thursday in Lagos during his keynote address at the 2024 Women in Management, Business and Public Service conference.
The two-day conference which is in its 23rd edition is themed ‘Dream, Dare and Do’ and is chaired by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Folasade Ogunsola.
Osinbajo expressed concern that the investible resources of the business owners are spent on maintaining appearances.
Osinbajo said, “Trying to keep up an image of success affects a major plank of business. The lifestyle of business owners is a problem, in my own opinion, for Nigerian businesses. There is a huge pressure that Nigerian business owners have which probably business people elsewhere do not have.
“To maintain a perception of success that is usually above the means of the business. If the business cannot support your lifestyle. There is pressure to look and spend as though you are very successful even though your business is only a few years old. The pressure is worsened by the unrealistic lifestyle of allegedly successful people on social media and an environment where most wealth is unexplained or unexplainable and where so many people are rich before becoming business persons.
“There are so many people who were wealthy already before becoming business owners and you are looking at those people and thinking surely, ‘I should be like those people.’ Consequently, every CEO or middle cadre of business enterprises feel the need to buy the best cars, the same cars that the richest man in Africa drives and they travel first class. So, a lot of the investible resources are spent on maintaining appearances.”
Osinbajo also went on to challenge the elites of Nigeria to champion the cause of the poor majority.
“A society or nation rises or falls by the sense of responsibility of its elites. That elite could be political, business religious and anywhere in the world, it is this class that determines the economic, moral and even the political direction of their nation. What they hold dear is what society considers important and what they disavow is what is rejected. They are the opinion moulders.
“Among the successful people here, if you look at the kind of conversations that go on, it is about how much local and international fares cost; the cost of school fees, private schools for children abroad, the cost of medical, especially medical abroad, now the cost of fueling more than one car and possibly visas to Dubai.
Now, these are important to us and in our interactions with those we expect to make a difference, there are perhaps some of the issues we raise and hope would be addressed. But the other 9.99 per cent of 200 million of us are more concerned with matters of survival, cost of public transportation, food, basic health care, accommodation, justice etc.
“My point is that the elite must be the mediator for these people. Alongside their concerns, they must fight for social welfare schemes; health care, and school feeding programmes for children in public schools because these are matters that politicians are required to address but often do not and they don’t even have an elite that can put them under pressure. Your collective voice and action for the education of girls in the north for example can affect the destiny of our nation. Today, we have over 67 per cent illiteracy in the north, a country with half of its population socially and economically disadvantaged by illiteracy will find development difficult if not intractable,” Osinbajo stated.
In her opening speech, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Ogunsola charged participants not to stop the level of dreams but to dare to achieve the dreams.
She said, “You have come to a conference that was set up by dreamers but dreaming is dreaming and nothing will happen if you do not dare to move forward, to dare to think that it might just be possible. Daring is about having the courage to step into unfamiliar territory, face challenges and take risks. We are notoriously risk-averse. Leadership is never a safe journey. It comes with resistance and people will tell you you cannot do it. Fear of failure, fear of loss of reputation. If you die without achieving your dreams or at least trying to achieve them, you will die with regrets and that is unforgivable.”
Ogunsola went on to urge the gathering of women to squash the ‘ANTs’ in their minds.
“ANTs are Automatic Negative Thoughts and the greatest thieves of your dreams. Dream dreams that scare you and challenge you. We must dream of goals that we don’t even know where the money will come from. You’re not alone, you will meet other dreamers. You’re here today to give wings to your dreams.”
She added that Nigeria needs women in every sphere of endeavour.
“It needs us to be present where decisions are taken,” she affirmed.
The Chairman of the WIMBIZ Board of Trustees, Bisi Adeyemi, called on the women to take advantage of the conference to further their dreams.
