Causes And Consequences Of Excessive Desire For Material Wealth Among Nigerians

The desire for wealth by a human being is normal, but the rate at which Nigerians go after this is, without argument, exceedingly alarming. Some of the causes of the excessive desire for material wealth among Nigerians are as follows:

One of the causes is the desire of a man to have power. Many Nigerians feel that acquiring more wealth will bring them recognition and influence. This, in turn, will give you power. Because of your wealth, you wield more power in your community, and since our society celebrates wealth, people tend to place priority on someone’s wealth, neglecting the normal aspect of the individual. It is the same rich man who uses his wealth to bribe his way into a position of authority. Though he does not have the moral and academic qualifications for the post, our society believes he is the right person. This attitude makes Nigerians go in search of wealth by every means possible.

Another cause is the selfish desire of Nigerians to satisfy themselves with excess wealth. An average Nigerian wants to have not one house but several houses, cars, assets, money, and women. He believes that by having all these, he is fulfilled. By having all these, he is indirectly depriving so many people of the benefit of having these things, in the sense that, in order to have them, he falsifies figures, robs, sometimes kills, and does other negative things.

Again, some people have this attitude towards life that there is a need to plan for the future. As good as this sounds, the way, and manner in which they go about this make one ask for the rationale behind it. They do not want their children to go through what they went through. In order to do this, they acquire acres of land, fleets of cars, several companies, and houses for their children instead of giving them a lasting legacy, which is education and a good moral upbringing.

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Having discussed some of the causes of excessive desire for material wealth, let us now look at the consequences of this problem.

First, as we all know, excessive desire for material wealth means going into dangerous and risky activities. These eventually lead to untimely death. It is an untimely death, in the sense that some people get killed in the process of acquiring wealth by all means, while innocent ones are killed by the desperate ones who want to be rich at all costs.

Also, because of material attitudes, our society is not producing good leaders; instead, we have leaders who have skeletons in their cupboards. Our leaders are corrupt, selfish, and lack the vision to lead us because they are morally bankrupt. And one is forced to ask this question: what does the future hold for our children?

And lastly, we have seen a rich man who left a lot for his family, but after his demise, the same inheritance tore the family apart because he did not train the children morally and academically. Instead of his inheritance being a blessing, it became a curse to his family after his death. The children fought over the properties. In the process, they killed themselves, and in the end, they sold everything, later ending up miserable and useless to society.

Against this background, Nigerians need to re-appraise our moral values towards material wealth so as to re-order our steps towards things that will bring collective progress, development, and long-lasting peace to our nation.

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