Federal Government of Nigeria has expressed its sadness over the pronouncement by the Military authority in the Republic of Niger indicating that the Republics of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have withdrawn membership of their countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

In a statement on Monday by Francisca K. Omayuli, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the FG said for half a century, ECOWAS had worked to promote peace, prosperity and democracy in the region.

The military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger had on Sunday withdrawn from the ECOWAS “with immediate effect”.

However, the statement from the foreign affairs ministry, said: “Nigeria stands with ECOWAS to emphasise due process and shared commitment to protect and strengthen the rights and welfare of all citizens of Member States.

“Nigeria has worked sincerely and in good faith to reach out to all members of the ECOWAS family to resolve the difficulties being faced.

“It is now clear that those seeking to quit the Community do not share that same good faith,” said the statement.

The FG accused the unelected leaders of denying their people the sovereign right to make fundamental choices over their freedom of movement, freedom to trade and freedom to choose their leaders.

The FG however expressed its desire to engage with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger “so that all the people of the region can continue to enjoy the economic benefits and democratic values that ECOWAS embraces.”

Nigeria further appeals to the International Community to continue to extend its support for ECOWAS and the vision of closer partnership, cooperation and integration.

 

Daily Trust

Israel military operation destroys a Gaza cemetery. Israel says Hamas used the site to hide a tunnel

The Islamic cemetery in southern Gaza was demolished, graves excised from the earth. A skull with no teeth rested atop the sandy, churned rubble.

The neighborhood of Bani Suheila in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, which soldiers showed foreign journalists Saturday, was obliterated, transformed by the military’s search for underground Hamas tunnels. An Associated Press journalist saw a destroyed mosque and — where the cemetery had once been – a 140-meter-(yard)-wide pit that gave way to what the army called a Hamas attack tunnel underneath. The military said Monday that combat engineers had demolished part of the network, releasing a video showing massive explosions in the area.

As Israel moves forward with a ground and air campaign in Gaza that health officials in the besieged enclave say has claimed over 26,000 Palestinian lives, the military’s destruction of holy sites has drawn staunch criticism from Palestinians and rights groups, who say the offensive is also an assault on cultural heritage. Under international law, cemeteries and religious sites receive special protection — and destroying them could be considered a war crime.

Israel says Hamas uses such sites as military cover, removing them of these protections. It says there is no way to accomplish its military goal of defeating Hamas without finding the tunnels, where they say the militants have built command and control centers, transported weapons and hidden some of the 130 hostages it is believed to be holding. They say digging up the tunnels involves unavoidable collateral damage to sacrosanct spaces.

“We’re not naive anymore,” said Israeli Dan Goldfus, who led journalists around the site Saturday.

Israel has made similar arguments in operations in and around Gaza hospitals.

Goldfus brought journalists inside a tunnel shaft he said stretched underneath the mosque and the cemetery. The journalists walked down a long concrete tunnel that branched in multiple directions and arrived at a small collection of rooms soldiers alleged were used by Hamas militants as a command and control center.

It included three domed rooms — one with four chairs, one with a desk, and a kitchen with empty cans of beans and a spice rack. A military commander said the tunnel, which contained a power transformer, fans, piping with wires and light switches, stretched 800 meters (yards) and was connected to a larger tunnel network in southern Gaza.

The army says it has found similar warrens of rooms in tunnels all over the Gaza Strip. It alleged the quarters shown to journalists Saturday included the office of a Hamas commander, an operations room, and living quarters for senior members of Hamas. It said the tunnel was used to plan attacks against the military.

The demolished cemetery, according to a satellite analysis, appears to have been the Shuhadaa Bani Suheila graveyard.

Since Israel declared war against Hamas on Oct. 7, it has repeatedly accused the Islamic militant group of using Gaza’s civilian sites as cover for military use. It says that military operations — from raiding hospitals to digging up cemeteries and destroying holy sites — are necessary to dismantle the militants’ command centers and bunkers.

On Oct. 7, Hamas militants poured into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and dragging some 250 hostages back to Gaza. Over 100 hostages were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has displaced most of the 2.3 million population. According to a U.N. monitor, the military has damaged 161 mosques in the course of its operations. The agency said it has not tracked the number of cemeteries that were damaged.

On Saturday, Goldfus swept his gloved hand across the moonscape surrounding him. The golden dome of the mosque was cracked and off-kilter, slumping down onto its shattered walls.

Goldfus said that Israeli forces destroyed the mosque after militants fired at them from within its grounds. Footage circulated on Israeli media showed soldiers using explosives to blow out the mosque’s first floor walls, collapsing it.

UNESCO has called on both Hamas and Israel to refrain from attacking culturally important sites.

Under the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty that established the International Criminal Court, cemeteries and mosques receive special protection as “civilian property.” The destruction of these sites can be considered a war crime, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Israel argues the sites lose their protection when they are used for military purposes, and when the operational gain from targeting them outweighs the loss of civilian life and infrastructure.

Goldfus said that forces had found other traces of Hamas activity in the area, from confiscated AK-47s to a map of the border between Gaza and Israel that he said Hamas might have used for the Oct. 7 attack.

He said destroying the mosque and digging up the cemetery was integral to locating some 60 tunnel shafts in the area. The journalists were shown only one shaft.

Dismantling the tunnel network, Goldfus said, posed a “riddle” to forces. He said it is difficult to operate in the area without harming sacred sites and even human remains.

“We try to move them aside as much as possible,” he said when asked about the excavated bodies. “But remember, when we are fighting in this place, and your enemy is flanking you again and again and again, and using these compounds to hide in, there’s not much you can do.”

 

AP

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian shelling kills four in northern Ukraine, one in devastated Avdiivka

Russian shelling in northern Ukraine killed four people in two villages in Sumy region near the Russian border, while a woman died in a fresh assault on the devastated eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, local officials said.

The local administration in Sumy region said three people died in mortar fire in the village of Znov-Novohorodske. A fourth was killed in another village to the southeast.

Reuters could not verify the reports, but officials in Sumy region report daily attacks from Russian forces.

In Avdiivka, a Ukrainian-held town near the front line, public broadcaster Suspilne said a woman died after suffering serious injuries in mid-afternoon shelling.

Avdiivka was seized briefly in 2014 by pro-Russian forces who captured large swathes of territory in eastern Ukraine, but was recaptured by Ukrainian troops who built fortifications.

It has remained in Ukrainian hands in Russia's slow drive through eastern Ukraine despite fierce onslaughts since mid-October. Virtually none of the town's buildings remains intact.

The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces, in its evening report said Ukrainian forces had repelled 13 Russian attacks in and around Avdiivka in the past 24 hours.

Military officials have spoken in recent days of increased Russian military activity on long stretches of the 1,000-km-long (600-mile) front line through eastern and southern Ukraine.

On the southern front, military spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk told a briefing that Ukrainian forces were extending the foothold they secured late October on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River despite intensified Russian attacks.

Russia forces advanced through Kherson region in the days after the February 2022 invasion, but by the end of the year had abandoned the region's main town and the Dnipro's west bank.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian army currently numbers 880,000 personnel, Zelensky discloses to German media

The Ukrainian army currently has a force level numbering about 880,000 troops, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with Germany’s ARD broadcaster.

"We have 880,000 troops; that’s an army of almost a million," he said, when asked about the army’s force strength. "Besides, we currently have a workforce of 30 million people, even though I can’t provide the exact number. Some 6.5 million to 7.5 million people have moved abroad, and again, I can’t give the accurate figure," Zelensky added.

Earlier, the Ukrainian president said that the Ukrainian ground forces were 600,000 strong in December 2023.

In February 2022, the Ukrainian armed forces numbered about 260,000, including 250,000 ground troops.

 

Reuters/Tass

Recruiters spend very little time looking at each resume — “three-to-five seconds” before they decide if they want to keep going, says Simon Taylor, former Disney recruiter and author of the forthcoming leadership book “Build Smart.” “Five is generous,” he says.

To get the information they need in such a short period of time, recruiters become “master keyword scanners,” he says, zeroing in on exactly the elements of your resume that prove whether or not you should be moving along in the interview process.

Here’s what they’re really looking at.

‘The current job title’

First, recruiters are looking at your job titles. Specifically, they’re looking at “the current job title,” says Taylor.

They’ll be comparing to see how similar it is to the title of the role they’re looking to fill. That’ll give them a sense of the parallels between what you’re doing now and what you could be doing on the job in their company. The closer the role, the more seamless the transition could be and the more relevant skills you could be bringing.

If you’re not currently employed, hiring managers will be looking at your most recent job title, says Taylor.

Work experience at ‘companies that are reputable’

When recruiters scan your most recent job title, they’ll also be looking at the name of the company you’re working at or worked at.

“Maybe it’s a Fortune 500 company and they’re really looking for candidates coming from companies that are reputable that have similar size or scope,” says Taylor. Or it’s a startup and they want to see if you’ve been in that kind of hustle mentality.

The point is your previous company will give a sense of the kind of culture you’re accustomed to and could transitions to in the future.

‘It’s not always as black and white’

A candidate may include a summary such as “a couple of bullets at the very top of their resume summarizing the top six skills they have or types of experience,” says Taylor. This isn’t mandatory and not everyone includes one, but a recruiter might scan that as well.

“It’s not always as black and white” as these three elements, he says. If you have a relevant title but they haven’t heard of your most recent company, “then they might start reading a little bit further” to see what else you’ve accomplished. Big picture, though, job title, companies of employment and a resume summary are the three components recruiters are looking at in the three-to-five seconds they give you.

When you tweak your resume for a role, make your job titles and employers clear and mirror the language of the job description in your summary to the extent that it’s relevant to give you the best shot at moving forward.

 

CNBC

Defying pressure by leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to restore constitutional rule, junta leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso said on Sunday they were quitting the regional bloc.

The decision is a blow to regional integration after the bloc suspended the three countries following military takeovers.

Here is a summary of the situation:

WHY DID THE THREE COUNTRIES LEAVE THE BLOC?

The juntas said in a joint statement that ECOWAS had drifted from the ideals of its "founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism," and accused the bloc of failing to assist in their fight against Islamist insurgents and ending insecurity.

ECOWAS has imposed a raft of economic, political and financial sanctions on the three in a bid to force them to return to constitutional order, but that has only hardened their position.

The juntas called the sanctions illegal and inhumane.

CAN A MEMBER STATE LEAVE ECOWAS?

Under Article 91 of the ECOWAS Treaty, a member state can only withdraw its membership after giving a written one-year notice and abides by its provisions during that period. It is unclear for now if the three intend to do so.

WHAT WOULD BE THE IMPACT?

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are landlocked countries that depend on ports in their ECOWAS neighbours for imports and exports. Leaving the bloc could see an increase in tariffs and could impact the free movement of their citizens and financial flows within the rest of the bloc.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT

ECOWAS, headquartered in Nigerian capital Abuja, could call an emergency summit to discuss the withdrawal but may not have the leverage to stop them leaving.

The decision to depart is seen as a major test for current ECOWAS chair Nigeria, whose President Bola Tinubu has sought to re-assert the country's position as the dominant regional power.

ECOWAS, which has been trying to negotiate with the Niger junta leaders, has previously said it was ready to deploy troops to restore constitutional order if diplomatic efforts fail.

The bloc is yet to carry out its threat.

 

Reuters

Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Saturday unleashed terror in some communities in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, killing eight people.

Residents of the affected communities, such as Ogwumogbo, Ikpele, and Ejima, were reported to have fled their villages.

Agatu communities have consistently witnessed armed herders attacks in the past two weeks, with troops and civilians killed.

In the first attack, which happened on January 18, 2024, five people, including three troops, were ambushed and killed.

Force Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke, OPWS, Sunday Igbinowanhia, a major general, who later confirmed the killing of three troops to journalists in Makurdi, said that the troops engaged the armed herders in a gun duel that lasted for three hours and successfully repelled the armed herders who might have lost many people in their fold.

He said, “Three deceased comprising of two soldiers and one Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps personnel were recorded, and two other soldiers were wounded and receiving treatment at the  Nigerian Air Force hospital in Makurdi.”

Barely five days after, the former Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism, Mike Inalegwu, who hails from the LG, confirmed another attack leading to the death of two people.

Saturday attack, the third in the past two weeks, was said to have lasted four hours, with the armed herders raiding several communities.

A resident of the local government who did not want to be mentioned said, “Residents of Ogwumogbo, Ikpele, and Ejima have all deserted their homes into the forest.”

The member representing Agatu State Constituency in the State Assembly, Godwin Edoh, who confirmed Saturday’s attack to journalists through phone on Sunday, said the attack took place between noon and 4 pm on Saturday.

He said, “It’s true, these attackers invaded three communities of Ogwumogbo, Ikpele, and Ejima on Saturday between 12 and 4 pm, and they sacked the people; eight people were killed in this latest attack, and several people are still missing.

“Despite all our efforts, the killings have persisted. No one is coming to our aid and the governor is quiet. I do not understand this.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, said, “I do not have this report”.

 

Punch

Israel notes 'significant gaps' after cease-fire talks with US, Qatar, Egypt but says constructive

Israel said “significant gaps” remain after cease-fire talks Sunday with the United States, Qatar and Egypt but called them constructive and said they would continue in the week ahead, a tentative sign of progress on a potential agreement that could see Israel pause military operations against Hamas in exchange for the release of remaining hostages.

The U.S. announced its first military deaths in the region since the war began and blamed Iran-backed militants for the drone strike in Jordan that killed three American service members amid concerns about a wider conflict.

The statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on the cease-fire talks did not say what the “significant gaps” were. There was no immediate statement from the other parties.

The war has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, destroyed vast swaths of Gaza and displaced nearly 85% of the territory’s people. Israel says its air and ground offensive has killed more than 9,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants took about 250 hostages.

With Gaza’s 2.3 million people in a deepening humanitarian crisis, the United Nations secretary-general called on the United States and others to resume funding the main agency providing aid to the besieged territory, after Israel accused a dozen employees of taking part in the Hamas attack that ignited the war.

Communications Director Juliette Touma warned that the agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, would be forced to stop its support in Gaza by the end of February.

CEASE-FIRE TALKS TO CONTINUE

Sunday’s intelligence meeting included CIA Director Bill Burns, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Ahead of the meeting, two senior Biden administration officials said U.S. negotiators were making progress on a potential agreement that would play out over two phases, with the remaining women, elderly and wounded hostages to be released in a first 30-day phase. It also would call for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations.

More than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, were released in November in exchange for a weeklong cease-fire and the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to troops, said that “these days we are conducting a negotiation process for the release of hostages” but vowed that as long as hostages remain in Gaza, “we will intensify the (military) pressure and continue our efforts — it’s already happening now.”

At least 17 Palestinians were killed in two Israeli airstrikes that hit apartment buildings in central Gaza, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw the bodies at a local hospital. One hit a building in Zawaida, killing 13 people, and the other an apartment block in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing four.

Also Sunday, 10 Palestinians were killed in a strike that hit a residential building in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, said Dr. Moataz Harara, a physician at Shifa Hospital, where the dead were taken.

Israel’s military said troops were engaging in close combat with Hamas in neighborhoods of the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest.

US DEATHS HIGHLIGHT REGIONAL TENSIONS

The three deaths announced by Biden were the first U.S. fatalities in months of strikes against American forces across the Middle East by Iranian-backed militias amid the war in Gaza. U.S. Central Command said 25 service members were injured.

U.S. officials were working to conclusively identify the group responsible for the attack, but assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups was responsible. Jordanian state television quoted a government spokesperson as contending the attack happened across the border in Syria. U.S. officials insisted it took place in Jordan, which U.S. troops have long used as a basing point.

The U.S. in recent months has struck targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to respond to attacks on American forces and to deter Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The war in Gaza has sparked concerns about a regional conflict. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has increasingly called for restraint in Gaza and for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the territory while supporting the offensive.

A GAZA LIFELINE AT RISK OF ‘COLLAPSE’

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “the abhorrent alleged acts” of staff members accused in the Oct. 7 attack “must have consequences,” but added the agency should not be penalized by the withholding of funding, and “the dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”

The United States, the agency’s largest donor, cut funding over the weekend, followed by eight other countries including Britain and Germany. Together, they provided nearly 60% of UNRWA’s budget in 2022.

Guterres said that of the 12 employees accused, nine were immediately terminated, one was confirmed dead and two were still being identified. He said they would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.

UNRWA provides basic services for Palestinian families who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the country’s creation. The refugees and their descendants are the majority of Gaza’s population.

Since the war began, most of the territory’s 2.3 million people depend on the agency’s programs for “sheer survival,” including food and shelter, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.

A quarter of Gaza’s population is facing starvation as fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of aid, which has been well below the daily average of 500 trucks before the war

In the past week, hostages’ family members and supporters have blocked aid trucks from entering at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Dozens again blocked the entry on Sunday, chanting “No aid will cross until the last hostages return.”

The military later declared the area around the crossing a closed military zone, which would prohibit protests there.

With Gaza’s future being debated, thousands, including far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition and senior Cabinet ministers, gathered in Jerusalem to call for renewing Jewish settlement in Gaza. Settlements there were evacuated in 2005, ending a 38-year-occupation, during a unilateral withdrawal of troops that bitterly divided Israel.

Crowds chanted “death to terrorists” as far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took the stage and declared it was “time to encourage immigration” of Palestinians from Gaza.

The international community, including the U.S., has said it will oppose any attempts to expel Palestinians from Gaza. It also overwhelmingly considers settlements on occupied territory illegal.

Netanyahu has said such views do not reflect official policy and he has no plans to resettle Gaza, but he has released few details of a postwar vision for the territory.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia's drones, missiles target Ukraine's critical infrastructure, Ukraine says

Russia launched drone and missile attacks targeting civilian and critical infrastructure across wide areas of Ukraine, Kyiv's Air Force said on Sunday.

Preliminary information did not show any casualties in the attacks, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks on each other's territory in recent months, targeting critical military, energy and transport infrastructure.

The air force said Russia attacked the central Poltava region with two ballistic missiles fired from the Iskander ballistic missile system, and three surface-to-air missiles over the Donetsk region in the east.

Filip Pronin, governor of Poltava region, wrote on Telegram that the attack struck an industrial site in the city of Kremenchuk, sparking a fire. Pictures posted on social media showed emergency crews battling a blaze.

Further southeast in the Zaporizhzhia region, Governor Yuri Malashko said an infrastructure site had been hit in a drone attack. Emergency crews were at the site, Malashko said, but gave no details of damage or casualties.

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed four of eight Russia-launched drones overnight, the air force said.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

** Russian missile hits Ukraine's Kremenchuk district for second day, no casualties

A Russian missile hit an industrial site in the central Ukrainian district of Kremenchuk on Sunday for a second straight day, the regional governor said, adding the strike had caused no casualties.

"For the second day in a row, the enemy is attacking Poltava region," Poltava Regional Governor Filip Pronin wrote on the Telegram messaging app, noting that the target was in Kremenchuk district.

Pronin later said there had been no casualties.

A missile attack on Saturday hit an industrial site in the same area, triggering a fire. No casualties were reported in that incident.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia open to substantive proposals for diplomatic settlement in Ukraine — MFA

Russia remains open to truly substantive proposals for a diplomatic settlement of the situation around Ukraine, said Alexey Polishchuk, the head of the Second Department of the CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

He said there’s no hope now that the West will change its approach to the Ukrainian settlement.

"The current Kiev leadership are puppets, first of all, of Washington, London and Brussels. They benefit from escalating the Ukrainian crisis, which they are using not only to try to accomplish the goal of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ to Russia, but also to implement measures that are aimed at weakening the economies of their competitors from continental Europe, who have been zombified by the ‘Russian threat’ and do not realize the real threats to their security," the diplomat said in an interview with TASS.

"On its part, Russia has always remained open to truly substantive proposals on how to overcome the current crisis through political and diplomatic methods," he said.

 

Reuters/Tass

 

The other day, on the plane, two ladies sat behind me. I was minding my own business, re-reading one of my pieces, “Mummy let the Singles Breathe” (https://www.newtimes.com.ng/mummy-let-the-singles-breathe/). However, the conversation between these two women, whom I will call Miss A and Miss B here, distracted me and captured my attention. Trust me, I always mind my business,and I tried my best to turn a deaf ear to them, but you know how some people talk; their voices are loud.

Miss A was loud enough that you would think she had swallowed a JBL speaker. She laughed out loud hysterically, and they literally got everyone’s attention on the plane. So, I took a break from reading and decided to listen in silence to what the conversation was about. You know, as a writer, you never can tell where your inspiration to write could come from. The conversation was about a boyfriend who did not give one of them N500,000 to buy artificial hair because he thought the price was outrageous.

According to Miss A, her boyfriend earns so much, turning in millions of naira every year, but spends very little on her. In fact, he recently bought the latest SUV for his mother, yet he has not replaced the car he bought for her last year, despite her pleas for a new one. Eh yah! Wahala for who no get rich man to bill. She complained about many other things, and in response to all her laments, Miss B asked if she was sure she was not feeling entitled to the man’s money.

“No o, entitled kẹ̀! I am just saying I deserve more than that. If he truly loves me, his money will also be mine. How can he buy his mother a new car and refuse to change mine?”

Miss B tried to argue further, to which Miss A replied, “Ehn, even if it is an entitlement, am I not his babe?” Thank God I don’t have a babe!

This conversation got me angry. I did not know when I exclaimed,  “Orí ẹ ti gbá ‘lè̀!” I adjusted my glasses and tried to concentrate on the Tribune newspaper I wanted to read before they distracted me. Listening to them was not exactly a waste of time, as the conversation did not stop in my head. I thought about the number of people who have expressed a sense of entitlement to the little money and influence I have. “Falola is a renowned professor, but he cannot even dash me N500,000 and forget about it.“ Ẹ gbà mí! How much do I even earn that I will become everyone’s destiny helper? I do not have money stored up in a Storex tank in my backyard or buried in my soak away. If I give everyone N500,000 and forget about it, will the bank not also forget that I ever opened an account with them when all the money has been dashed out because my name is Falola and I am a nice man?

I do not mean to insult your pedigree, but is it not unreasonable for you to have such high expectations that you deserve certain privileges from people as though you co-own their bank accounts and their contents? Very many people feel entitled to other people’s money just because they are associated with them in one way or another. You will find the sense of entitlement dripping from how people react when, for genuine reasons, you are unable to solve their financial problems. Nobody is obliged to give you part of their money, no matter who you are to them. And when they do, consider it a favour rather than a duty they owe you.

Even your president, the As̩íwájú of Èmi ló kàn dynasty, demonstrated a sense of entitlement when he told his fellow politicians to “gbé kiní yìí wá, èmi ló kàn” – a catchphrase that became his selling point during the elections. A manifesto of entitlement. Since he has godfathered some young men and given them a chance to sit on the throne, he is also entitled to sit on it. A kingmaker must as well become the king! No doubt, democracy is the government of the politicians, by the politicians, and for the politicians. Politics is now a game of entitlement where it is about whose turn it is to have a share of the cake and not about who is next to serve the people. A bunch of politicians using the nation’s throne to settle scores! But do I have the audacity to say that orí As̩íwájú ti gbá’lẹ̀?

Simbi, there you are, praying for a “helper” who will wire you N450,000 to buy human hair or hand you the key to an apartment in Lekki without any effort, just like that! You have forgotten the part of the scripture that says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV).

I am still trying to understand this set of humans who believe that their money is theirs to spend alone, but another man’s money is for “all of us.” You are only privileged to enjoy another man’s money, the money he laboured and worked hard for. Even if it is ritual money, at least he did something to get it. You open the slaughterhouse that you call a mouth to rain insults on the CEO of your company because he travels abroad every three months for a vacation. Ahn ahn!

You say, “All these rich people sef, they are just wasting money. If he donates the money he spends on vacation to people who are in need, their creator will bless him.”

Monalisa, no, he does not need your Ẹlẹ́dàá to bless him. He needs the vacation to wherever he wants! He has worked for his money; no be you go tell am wetin he go use the money do. You can see how his home and office space are packed with awards and recognition of various kinds as if he is selling them. Every single one of them was earned. Instead of drawing inspiration from him, you would say, “An award is nothing, he is just lucky. Vanity upon vanity.”

Slay queen, let me tell you what an award is. An award is a testament that you have paid your dues, and the world, even though selfish, has been compelled to recognise it. Aunty, do am if e easy!

Someone takes care of you, pays your school fees, sends you money you did not work for, and after two days, you reply with a one-word SMS, “Thanks.” He pays another one, and again, it’s just “Thanks,” as if you kept the money in his bank account. The day he does not send money as usual, you will send him an epistle of how sápá has almost finished you, that he must do something about it. If he does not, you change his contact’s name from “Rich Uncle Femi” to “Greedy Femi.” Ah! Your bad manners are only exceeded by your bad manners. That is why you do not know that gratitude is proof of honour. When you believe you are entitled to something, you cannot truly be grateful for it. Entitled fool, orí ẹ ti gbá’lẹ̀!

Entitled girlfriends, like Miss A, let me talk to you. It is madness to think that a man’s money is your money, especially when you are not yet joined in matrimony. It is his money, not yours, and he has the freedom to spend it however he wants. If he chooses to spend everything on you, good for you! But do not be a mad girlfriend (má jẹ́ kí orí ẹ gbá’lẹ̀). Make your own money and spend it as you wish; he would be wrong to feel entitled to it, too. Regular financial gifts and spoiling of various kinds are not obligatory; they are only acts of kindness. You must have the sense to appreciate them rather than feel entitled.

Entitlement is one reason generous persons tend to withdraw their kindness. You will pray to God to bring destiny helpers your way, but you will use excessive billing and a sense of entitlement to chase them away. Can you see that there is little help God himself can offer you if you do not change your ways? I can see that you need a renewed orientation.

Obinna, the fact that you share the same surname with your siblings or rich family members does not mean that you must have a share of their money. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but the truth remains that nobody owes you anything. Nobody will go to hellfire for not paying your rent or giving you a job in their company. Nobody merely exists just to serve your needs and wants. Nobody owes you anything!

Know your position in people’s lives and stop imposing unrealistic demands and expectations on them. You must learn that when people agree to your demands, it is a responsibility, and when they refuse, it is a decision. Stop the pity party that you throw when they are unable to help. Should they cut their throats for you so that you can be comfortable? Nobody will die for you to be alive. Life itself is already a survival of the fittest. Appreciate the favours, the gifts, or any form of philanthropy people extend to you. Jẹ́ kí orí ẹ pé!

To Miss A, who inspired this piece, in case you come across this on the internet, I apologise for exclaiming “orí ẹ tigbá’lẹ̀,” but I advise you to change your ways if you want your rich boyfriend to put a ring on it.

In early 2023, Jeff Bezos was worth approximately $107 billion. A year later – to make the math easier – he was worth $177 billion. That's a difference of $70 billion, which means he made a little under $8 million per hour last year.

Granted, that's not his per-hours-worked rate. That's his per-total-hours-in-the-year rate.

Which is the point. To use the old passive income cliche, Bezos made a lot of money while he slept because he's an owner, not an employee.

Hold that thought.

Many people want to be rich. (How you define "rich" is of course up to you; my "rich" may seem like pocket change to His Airness.)

Many don't. But if you do, you will never become incredibly wealthy by working for someone else.

Data backs up that statement. According to the IRS Statistics of Income Division's 400 Individual Income Tax Returns Reporting the Largest Adjusted Gross Incomes Each Year, 1992-2014 (the most recent report I could find), the average income of those on the list was $317 million.

How did they make their money? Here's the breakdown:

• Wages and salaries: 4.4 percent
• Interest: 4.2 percent
• Dividends: 10.9 percent
• Partnership and S Corp Net Income: 16.2 percent
• Sale of Capital Assets: 65.2 percent

Salaries are a tiny percentage of wealthy people's earnings. The same is true for stock dividends and interest. Owning a business, and maybe someday selling a portion or all of that business? That's where the money comes from.

If you don't trust the IRS, check out the top seven on the Forbes billionaires list. Arnault. Musk. Bezos. Ellison. Buffett. Gates. Bloomberg. All entrepreneurs. Each built incredibly successful businesses.

Each is an owner.

The same is true for the aforementioned Michael Jordan. Jordan owns, through his royalty agreements, a piece of Nike's Air Jordan brand.

He also owned, until recently, the Charlotte Bobcats. Sure, he got paid handsomely by the Bulls. He got paid handsomely for endorsements.

But the bulk of his fortune came from owning things – things that, as with Bezos – other people helped build and grow.

Amazon employees? They get paid a salary in return for effort. Fair enough. That's the nature of employment; I do this, you give me that.

When I stop doing this? You stop giving me that.

That's not the case for owners. Bezos has stepped away from day-to-day duties. But as long as Amazon continues to perform well, he still makes money.

Because he's an owner. He owns an asset that has value. He has the owner's mentality.

And so should you. 

While investing in stocks is a form of ownership – since you do own a piece, however small, of the company – your ability to influence the success of that company is nonexistent. You can only analyze, assess and hope.

The owner's mentality goes deeper. Taking owning a rental property. Sure, you might not make a lot of money, at least in the short term.

(While there are plenty of other considerations involved, a simple metric my wife uses is that each of our properties should average at least $800 in positive cash flow per month, a standard we've achieved because, well, she's a really, really smart real estate investor.)

Short-term income is great, but the real value of ownership is long-term: increased property values, building greater equity as someone else pays down the mortgage, and long-term, annuity-like income.

Yes, time and effort are involved. The income we get and the wealth we slowly build, isn't passive. But we also do make money while we sleep.

Also, keep in mind you can be an employee and embrace an owner's mentality. My wife works in health care. I work for other people, on a contract basis.

The only thing I own is the book I wrote a few years ago. (That's why I'm writing another one.) The key is to look for ways to own something or things, even if just on the side.

A contractor friend started a side business installing HVAC systems on the weekends. A few of his friends work with him, and he's slowly building a business with assets he can leverage to either grow or sell.

He's thinking and acting like an owner, not an employee. Will he get rich? Maybe so. Maybe not. Either way, he's taking a chance. You might see it as a risk.

But being "only" an employee is even riskier. In return for less freedom, less control, and less fulfillment, every day you go to work for someone else your upside is always capped. (And your downside is total, since you can lose your job at any moment.)

The downside for owning something is also total, but in return, you enjoy the possibility of an unlimited financial upside.

Maybe not a Bezos-level upside, but one that is surely greater than if you only ever trade your effort for pay.

 

Inc