Igbo Billionaires Have Failed Igboland – Awuzie Franklin

Sometimes I just get angry when I look around and see what most of our Igbo billionaires are doing with their money. All they know is to open club houses, hotels, start bitter alcoholic drinks, Zoom lotto, or bring containers of used clothes and shoes from China. Some even import cigarettes and Nkpuru Mmiri, all these things adding no meaningful impact to the life of the average youth in Igbo land. Where is the vision? Where is the legacy?

Instead of building tech companies or factories that can employ our youths, they prefer to invest in clubs and hotels where they sell ₦2,000 fake Kai-Kai as “foreign schnapps for #150k ” and mix it with Coca-Cola so you won’t detect it’s fake and kidneys are affected. Inside these clubs, our girls are stripped almost naked, dancing for money, destroying the dignity of our women while the so-called rich men clap and pour drinks.

Then they open Zoom lotto centers everywhere, where frustrated youths throw away their last ₦500 hoping to win millions. This is not empowerment, it’s destruction.

Look at Aba boys, hardworking and creative, producing shoes, clothes, furniture, and many other things. Why can’t our billionaires invest there? Why can’t they turn Aba into the China of Nigeria? Imagine the jobs and pride that would bring to Igbo land

Every street is full of talented young boys playing football with hope in their eyes. Why can’t our rich men come together to build a world-class football academy linked to foreign scouts, so our youths can go abroad and make something of their talent?

But no, they can’t think that far. They prefer to flaunt their wealth on social media, spraying bundles of cash, driving convoys, wearing gold chains right in the faces of suffering youths. They are putting pressure on these boys instead of helping them. Many young men now believe the only way to make it fast is through kidnapping, rituals, or yahoo. Because that’s what society now celebrates, flashy wealth without purpose.

Even when Chief Priest met the new president, what did he talk about? Opening McDonald’s in France. I’m not saying it’s bad, but imagine discussing something that could benefit his own people instead. Our billionaires are too focused on personal fame and enjoyment, not community growth. Until that changes, Igbo land will keep suffering, not because we lack money, but because our rich men lack vision and heart. And the worst is that suffering youth will insult me now in my comment section.

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