*Photo: Some Nigerian students in a class *
Nigeria is often described as a nation of educational paradoxes. One of the most glaring contemporary contradictions is the emphasis placed on students to study hard, earn good grades, and secure white-collar jobs—all with the aim of earning a good income. However, these students are taught little to nothing about money management or personal finance, leaving them ill-prepared for the financial realities of life.
Despite the encouragement to achieve financial success, our educational system fails to provide students with the necessary knowledge about managing money, a subject often referred to as “Financial Education,” “Money Management,” “Personal Finance,” or “Personal Financial Planning.”
As a result, many Nigerians are financially illiterate due to the shortcomings of our current educational system. How can we expect these students to become employers, creators of jobs, rather than just employees, if they lack the basic financial literacy required to manage and grow wealth?
Let me emphasize a fact that might surprise many: a person can be professionally successful, academically accomplished, morally upright, politically active, spiritually grounded, socially connected, and technologically savvy, yet still be financially illiterate. This lack of financial intelligence, measured by one’s Financial Quotient (FQ), is prevalent among many of our politicians and civil servants, who often end up being “Public Spenders” rather than prudent financial managers. This is one of the reasons Nigeria struggles to achieve political, economic, and social efficiency.
The truth is that until our educational system is overhauled at all levels to incorporate financial literacy, Nigerians will continue to be employees rather than employers.
Many people, particularly in academia, mistakenly equate Financial Education with Entrepreneurship Education, which is taught as a one- or two-semester course in universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education. Financial Education encompasses much more than just entrepreneurship; it is far broader and more essential.
The following are the ten components of Financial Education or Personal Finance that should be taught to all Nigerians to ensure their economic independence:
1. Personal Savings Planning:
Students should learn not only how to save their surplus income but also the various ways to do so, such as through banks, capital markets, money markets, mutual funds, and private equities.
2. Personal Investment Planning:
Students should be taught how to invest their surplus income and the various short-, medium-, and long-term instruments available to them, depending on their risk preferences and investment goals.
3. Personal Retirement Planning:
Students should learn to take full responsibility for their retirement or old age, with little or no reliance on employers or the government, given the current situation of many retirees in Nigeria.
4. Personal Estate Planning:
Students should be taught how to create a legal estate and transmit it to their heirs or next of kin when they eventually pass away.
5. Personal Insurance Planning:
Students should learn how to protect their income, assets, liabilities, health, etc., against the risks of theft, job loss, injury, sickness, death, and public liability, through insurance.
6. Personal Tax Planning:
Students should learn to be patriotic citizens by paying taxes on their taxable income, wealth, and transactions while also understanding how to benefit from tax laws.
7. Personal Expenditure Planning:
Students should learn how to save and plan for significant purchases such as a house, vehicle, marriage, or travel.
8. Personal Charity Planning:
Students should be taught the importance of giving back to society through charity, endowments, social feeding, and other interventions for the poor and vulnerable.
9. Personal Business Planning:
Students should learn how to identify business opportunities, mobilize necessary resources, and pursue these opportunities profitably. This is where Entrepreneurship Education intersects with Financial Education.
10. Personal Net Worth Planning:
Students should be taught how to set personal net worth goals, such as becoming a millionaire by 2025, and how to accumulate assets while reducing liabilities to achieve these goals.
Now, I ask: Which Entrepreneurship course or curriculum in Nigeria covers all of the above topics at any university, polytechnic, or college of education?
Moreover, who among us has been academically taught all these ten components of Financial Education in any of these institutions? Even students of Economics, Accounting, Business, and Finance are not taught these components comprehensively at a personal level.
God knows best!
* Engr. Kabiru el-Hussain Rumah, Jakadan Rumah is Founder and CEO of Jakadan Rumah Foundation (JRF), Katsina State, the Home of Hospitality. He can be reached at elhussainikabiru@gmail.com and 08038473713.*