Nigerians still invest to secure future amid hardship
Amid hardship, many Nigerians are still interested in investing today to secure their future, according to an online poll conducted by BusinessDay.
The poll was done across three online platforms, namely Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Out of the 49 votes from Twitter poll, 29 percent are saving for essentials, 16 percent are just saving to have money they can fall back on anytime they want to spend, while 55 percent are interested in saving for investments.
Out of the 215 votes from the LinkedIn poll, 23 percent are saving for essentials, 16 percent are just saving, while 61 percent or 131 votes are saving for investments.
Instagram, where 39 votes were recorded, show that 36 percent (14 votes) prefer saving for essentials while 64 percent or 25 votes prefer to save for investment.
“Basically, increasing my streams of income (steady income) would have to come from more than a single source, so saving up (efficiently) would mean having more cash (at my disposal) to invest in lucrative opportunities and most likely increase my net worth,” said one of the respondents, Gideon Keshi.
Another respondent, Anthony Udugba, commenting on why he saves for investment, said, “There are investment plans like land and cryptocurrency that are open for ordinary people to save and put their money in which will keep soaring in value despite the state of any given economic situation.”
Another respondent who prefers to invest despite economic hardship, said, “For my future and the kind of life I would love to live, I know that most of the work I am doing now is so I can enjoy later.”
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A respondent who identified himself simply as Victor said, “Investment helps you build your portfolio and get bigger bags”.
Another respondent, Ibrahim, said, “Making sure my standard of living changes for good is big enough to drive savings for investment and the future of the coming generations.”
Nigerians have in recent years been facing the challenges of high inflation rate and dwindling disposable income.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its country report for Nigeria last month, noted that the economy was recovering from a historic downturn, “thanks to policy support, rebounding oil prices and international financial assistance”.
“Benefiting from the authorities’ proactive approach, COVID-19 infection rates and fatalities have been contained. With higher oil prices and the country entering into the 2023 presidential election cycle, there are risks of delays in much-needed fiscal and exchange rate reforms. Macroeconomic and structural policies should build confidence and ensure a robust exit from the crisis,” IMF had said.