CONVERSATION WITH MY BILLIONAIRE FRIEND

SESSION 22

NATIONAL SECURITY AND WEALTH BUILDING

Shortly after our conversation last week, my Billionaire Friend hinted he would like to share his thoughts on national security and its impact on wealth-building endeavours. He believes very strongly that wealth-building practices can only thrive in an atmosphere of safety and good security.

Kindly enjoy the rest of his insightful perspective:

Wealth and National Security

“National security is essential to wealth building and sustenance because wealth creation only thrives in peaceful environments and nations. It relates to direct threats to the physical well-being of the population and jeopardises the stability of a country, its economy and institutions. National security threats could show up in incidents of hostile government takeover —terrorism, the proliferation of weaponry and stockpiling of chemical weapons — which can destroy any nation’s security. It also includes cybercrime and the infiltration by hostile governments and terrorist groups. Cybercriminals have hacked economic institutions, government websites, private bank accounts and national power infrastructures. National security could also be adversely affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and the likes of Covid-19 pandemic recent occurrence. National security is therefore crucial for providing a conducive environment for the funding or hindrance of wealth creation, building and sustenance”.

“In the 1960s and the 1970s, some years before and after the Nigerian Civil War, national security was well managed and the country was peaceful. There was no banditry, no terrorism of the herdsmen and Boko Haram, and the rate of crime was low. But today insecurity is pervasive and has endangered the investment climate of Nigeria. This bad national security situation hinders economic growth and development and decreases the attraction, retention and sustenance of foreign and local investments”.

“The progressive atrophy of foreign investments and businesses of various forms in Nigeria is due to the prevalence of unpredictable security situations over the years. As it is now, the general perception is that wealth owners and builders are increasingly afraid to move from one place to the other in Nigeria. This perception of fear has become a problem for wealth-building endeavours which inherently thrive on peace and free mobility. Generally, wealth creation and building are fragile human activities. Wealth building does not survive well in environments of war and where banditry, kidnapping and terrorism prevail. There is, therefore, the need to re-evaluate and arrest our different national security threats to improve, significantly, the generally poor perception of Nigeria as a wealth-building destination”.

“We may want to look at cyber or financial crimes, for instance, and the seeming ineffectiveness of the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of such. Wealth builders may thus encounter such problems in the processing of bank transfers. A large number of incidents of hacking into the private accounts of wealth builders/owners have occurred and awaiting prosecution. These breaches do happen in other climes, but the problem here is the extent of ensuring that the perpetrators of these crimes are detected, sanctioned and prosecuted”.

“The problem is thus not in the prevalence but in the extent to which we react and how fast and well we ensure that those who perpetrate these crimes against national security are dealt with appropriately, to ensure that national economic growth and development are not unduly hindered”.

“National security is not only limited to the threats of terrorism,
banditry and financial crimes. Cyber terrorism also creates national security problems against the economic growth of many countries of the world. In India, for instance, a group of human rights activists were targeted by terrorists, who infected their computers with malware. Suspected North Korean hackers also compromised two prominent European defence firms, thus sending them fake job offers as a way to infiltrate their systems and retrieve classified information. These are just two examples of criminals using hacking and other digital skills to cause destruction and chaos”.

“It is therefore important for governments to put national security and emergency responses in place, to allow them to identify and thwart human-made destructions to national peace and stability, which would go a long way in promoting business and wealth-building activities. Nigeria is currently witnessing several violent attacks, kidnapping, banditry, farmland invasion by herdsmen, and inter-communal tensions, leading to outbreaks of violence and disruption of economic activities and wealth building. The outcome of all this is the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria and its attendant effect on social tensions and strive. Domestic capital formation is also hindered, and foreign direct investments are affected. Meanwhile, government spending on education and security is low, which has negatively affected the level of security and retard national economic growth”.

“Despite government efforts and expenditure, the prevalence of state insecurity appears to continue, remains largely un-curtailed and is fast evolving into a state existential crisis, which is shaking the very foundation of Nigeria and its economic growth”.

“Available data from 2009 to 2019, indicates growing unemployment rates, declining domestic capital formation, the flight of foreign direct investments, increasing government security expenses and the likes, which are conversely affecting the provision of welfare and health services, equitable income distribution and the productive use of public borrowing.
Compounding all these problems is the issue of the federal government’s inability to protect the national, state and local economies against corruption which is greatly dampening national economic growth in the short run”.

“Thus, Nigerian government’s inability to provide a safe and secure environment for human capital development largely adversely affects wealth-builders and access to social and economic services as necessary ingredients for wealth building and sustenance. There is also a huge inability to create jobs, eradicate poverty, and improve government revenue for engendering long-term inclusive economic growth. Some folks may argue that this whole scenario of national security in Nigeria is all about perception as away from facts and reality on the ground. And that there is a need to balance perception with concrete facts. They would argue that this negative perception of Nigeria’s insecurity does not necessarily reflect the facts on the ground”.

“However, facts are sacred. We must be conscious that balancing the investment climate with wealth building is very fragile. Nigeria is globally not currently rated as a safe investment destination, given all that has been earlier mentioned here”.

Consider these

“Joint security patrols of the geographical locations of wealth builders’ businesses need to be organised for the communal protection of wealth owners’ assets, within their areas of operation. Such joint security patrols should necessarily incorporate the assistance of the Nigerian Police. These patrols should have links with the command systems of the Nigerian Police to ensure business concerns of wealth owners are not adversely affected by the pervasive insecurity of the Nigerian environment”.

It is not for anything that one is very much concerned about the importance of national security for wealth builders, because security, energy and human capital form the crux of business development which is the prime focus of wealth owners. Wealth owners hoping to do business in unsafe environments need to consider all these. Wealth cannot be built optimally in largely unsafe environments because of the survival, productivity and profitability impacts on the business, production and investment of wealth owners”.

Options for Wealth Builders

“One way is for wealth builders to always be pre-emptive, to insulate themselves strategically from the impacts earlier mentioned, by employing insurance policies to reduce the probable losses that may occur, as a result of some of the issues of insecurity already mentioned here. An example is taking cash movement, special peril, fire, and fidelity insurance by such wealth builders. Another example is employing the services of private security agencies, using hidden cameras to record goings and comings, with support command stations for their businesses in different locations, to monitor and take appropriate pre-emptive actions against possible adversities. Another proactive strategy is to always obtain expert advice on law and security, to mitigate the outcomes of such national and local insecurities. Wealth builders must also ensure that they conduct proper investigations of their intended employees, by using expert personnel recruitment, security agencies and experts to shortlist intending personnel for employment in their wealth-building operations. In addition to this, they must keep proper records of thumbprints, and passport photos and where possible, they must register the same with the police commands around their various localities. This is necessary. Personnel should also be notified and made aware that such police notification measures have been put in place against possible abuse by personnel. A way out again is for wealth owners to make it a duty to be aware at all times of the developments and movements around their businesses by regularly monitoring news around their localities to be fully aware of happenings and likely security breaches around their businesses”.

Thriving in Dark Times

“Thus, in general, the sustainability of wealth building by business owners is significantly influenced by the ability of their environment to provide conducive security, effective use of resources and delivery of innovative planning and development strategies for security management. The influence of security conditions arising from the challenges of national and local crises negatively affects business performance”.

“Countries that seriously value the importance of wealth growing, plan and expand to curb the negative effect of avoidable national security crises that may likely occur. Security challenges can usually be prevented with the use of science and technology to prevent or limit the losses from conflicts, crises and impacts on individuals and businesses by adequately avoiding or minimising such risks. Obviously, the production of wealth can only best take place in conducive environments and are usually significantly affected by national security problems. It is therefore the responsibility of governments to ensure that measures are put in place to minimise the adverse effects of national security on national and individual wealth building”.

“It must be admitted that the problems of national security are universal but the difference between one country and the other, in terms of wealth development, incomes, earning capacity, size/quality of GDP and employment generation capacity, has to do with how effectively and optimally that national security is handled for providing conducive environments. Also of importance is the need for the empowerment of the country’s judiciary, for fast, adequate and unbiased judgments against infractions, and clear and transparent penalties against the perpetrators of security lapses. This is very important because every properly-managed nation is fully aware that lapses in national security can and do occur, which negatively affect growth and development but well-managed nations generally appoint their judges on merit, empower and fund their judiciaries and honour the sanctity of the rule of law. These are necessary ingredients for the growth and development of wealth in well-managed societies and nations”.

Thus far…
Can’t wait to catch up with you next week

QUOTE 1

National security is basic in importance to wealth building and sustenance because wealth creation only thrives in peaceful environments and nations. In itself, national security relates to anything that threatens the physical well-being of the population and jeopardises the stability of the economy of any nation or its institutions.

QUOTE 2

As it is now, the general perception is that wealth owners and builders are increasingly afraid to move from one place to the other in Nigeria. This perception of fear has become a problem for wealth-building endeavours which inherently thrive on peace and free mobility.