Amid meagre income, many Nigerians still prefer to invest today to secure their future spending, according to recent online poll conducted by BusinessDay. The polls were done across three notable online platforms Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram.
Out of the 49 votes from Twitter poll, 29 percent are saving for Essentials, 16percent are just savings to have money they can fall back to anytime they want to spend, while 55 percent or 26 votes are interested in saving for investments.
Also, out of the 215 votes from LinkedIn poll, 23percent are saving for Essentials 16percent are just saving, while 61percent or 131 votes from LinkedIn are saving for investments.
Instagram, which polled 39 votes show that 36percent (14 votes) prefer saving for Essentials while 64percent 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 poll respondents, Gideon Keshi.
Another respondent Anthony Udugba commenting on why he saves for investment, said “There are investment plans like land and crypto currency 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,”.
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According to another respondent who prefers to invest despite economic hardship, “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.”
A respondent who also identified himself simply as Victor said, “Investment helps you build your portfolio and get bigger bags”, while to another respondent, Ibrahim, “making sure my standard of living changes for good is big enough to drive savings for investment and the future of the coming generations”.
Nigeria’s consumers are since this year facing challenges of inflation and depleting disposable income.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its country report for Nigeria last month noted that the economy is recovering from a historic downturn “thanks to policy support, rebounding oil prices and international financial assistance.”
“Benefiting from the authorities’ pro-active 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 noted.
