David Ovuoba

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Like this Nigerians have now gotten used to terrorism. Nobody is even talking about the kidnapped kids.

@MrMekzy_ I broke masquerade head when I was in secondary school for this same reason

This thing is rubbish sha, it’s not funny at all. I’ll stand let my fellow man be flogging me because he calls himself masquerade? Godforbid bad thing.

@oku_yungx Please tell me what to do 🥹

She look her leg up and he decided to hold her lap. Who is this rookie?

@asemota For working with Nigerians at home it might be best to start with a trusted family member. I am building a business back home with my sister and I am super impressed with her dedication, diligence and honesty.

22 years ago, in Enfield, London, I met this Nigerian guy whose job was to wash celebrities' cars at a very high-end car wash. Everything he made, he sent back to Nigeria to invest in property. He was not well educated and didn't know of any other assets to preserve wealth. At the time I met him, he was saving a lot and regularly sending home millions of Naira. His clients and patrons were very generous, and he was very hardworking. The first thing I asked him was why he didn't take all the knowledge he had gained to set up a similar business back home. His answer was - "They will rob me blind if I am not there." He wasn't ready to leave his cash cow in England, and he also knew that setting up a business at home was a risky endeavor. I see this pattern repeated with many successful Nigerians outside Nigeria. Trust is rare, and many have been burned. The surprising thing is that when Nigerians do the reverse and try to set up businesses abroad from Nigeria, they would most likely choose other Nigerians to run them. I have seen this with banks and churches. Some are successful, and others are not, but they keep doing it anyway. What happens to Nigerian trust locally, and why is it different when things are abroad? The simple answer is systems. A Nigerian doing business with another Nigerian abroad is protected by the rule of law and the systems in place there. There is also something deeper that I stumbled upon. Nigerians typically choose other Nigerians to run things, even though their products are originally Nigerian products or products largely meant for Nigerians in the Diaspora. When it is a universal product, they would choose others, but would still likely choose Nigerians first. It is a paradox. There are many times when choosing a Nigerian to run a Nigerian business outside Nigeria is a very bad idea, especially in those places with xenophobia, and where Nigerians are despised, but the reason Nigerians choose other Nigerians is that Nigerians abroad work hard. They know what they are running away from and put everything into it so they don't go back. I always joke that I have more relatives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, than in Benin City, and it is likely true, as a family reunion there once had 200 people. One thing I noticed was that the family members almost always employed other family members in their businesses, and those businesses thrived. One of them even ran a car wash, employing his brothers, who later set up their own car washes. These were informal arrangements without any contracts, but everyone behaved and played their part. The interesting thing was that they never tried to do the same thing back home in Benin City. The answer seemed simple: maybe desperation and greed led to bad choices by those at home, but why? I have always wondered why the same family bonds abroad that bring people together and help them do well disintegrate when they get back home. The only people I have seen who have kept these family bonds in business, tight at home and away, were the Igbo people. The interesting thing was that the car guy in London was also an Igbo man, but he couldn't leave a business with his people back home to run. I later asked why, and he told me it was a high-end, personalized service that took years of apprenticeship to perfect. He was cleaning and detailing Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other high-end cars for footballers and bankers. If he tried to train people to do that, they may end up taking the business away from him. I finally got my answer. Trust is multifaceted. You have to first trust yourself before you can trust others. I have a barber in Lagos called Chika who has absolutely no fear that I would choose others over him, as we have had a relationship for decades. I have the same relationship with Chika as I had with my late co-founder, because we were always truthful with each other. It was something that grew over time. I have followed Chika from Ikoyi Hotel to Victoria Island, to a shed when his shop was demolished, and finally to his current place, where he has operated for the last decade. I have even begged him to come to Accra, as I still don't have a regular barber here after 17 years. Many others in Lagos have the same relationship with him, and there are more of them there than in Accra. Chika is that good. He has also been unable to transfer that skill to others, making his business less scalable. It will always remain a niche luxury service. The type of business we try to do matters. High-trust businesses with a personal touch require the founder to micromanage everything. In Ghana, I once lost a $ 330k-a-year deal because someone (a Ghanaian) was too laid-back to respond to an email on time. Another Nigerian took the deal. Nigerians are more aggressive in doing business than others. So, I understand why people hire Nigerians abroad, especially in other African countries. They have more hunger. Nigerians choose Nigerians because they are easier to micromanage. Hunger at home can easily turn into greed. A Nigerian guy I recruited in Lagos for a project at MTN Group in the early days had tried to circumvent me with my South African partner. I was lucky to have seen the email he wrote to that effect when he left his screen open in the office. I became more cautious about who I worked with. It repeated itself much later, when I saw that our internal company emails were being read in the Ericsson office before they poached a lot of our people. Could these things have happened outside Africa? Maybe the probability would have been much less. The hunger is the same, but the greed is less, as many of the needs are usually already met. This is the same for Nigerians working in other parts of Africa. You don't need to worry about diesel for your generator, fuel scarcity, or security. When those basic needs are met, Nigerians become very different people. This is why I keep telling people recruiting from the diaspora not to bring them to Nigeria, but to allow them to settle in other African countries for now. Trust is enhanced when people worry less about basic things. This is a simple and pedestrian explanation, but trust me, it works all the time. There are people I know who would love to work for Nigerian companies but would never want to live in Nigeria. Hire them, but don't let them come back home unless you are ready to treat them as expats. Nigeria is the problem with a lot of people; it is not because they are Nigerians but because they are in Nigeria.

The moving man, shouldn't because of the fear of uncertainties, decide to stop moving. The moving man is allowed to take pauses, in between his movements. He should take the bold risks of detours, hitchhiking and redirections. The moving man should keep moving, regardless.

@abalu_uthman And if you are unemployed?

I wish life is scripted in a way where everyone is on a level playing field but unfortunately it’s not. We all have different circumstances from our birth parent to the location we are born to , to when we have head start in life. That said, there was a research by Fidelity investments that I think it’s relevant everywhere in this topic and the conclusion was that at 30, you should have at least the equivalent of your annual salary in savings/ investments.

You don’t hate Nigerian corrupt politicians enough

A copy of the Aburi Accord Gowon rejected that will blow your mind ! Now I know the man we should blamed 💯

@Cruxcrypto9 Brotherly

@kingdavidfirst Keep soaring man!

Hate to say this but Omo, I am grateful for leaving Nigeria.

Trusting in God may feel like the hardest thing to do but it is the wisest decision you will ever make in your life.

Bandits on Saturday night invaded a prayer ground at Ori-Oke Ajaiye, on the outskirts of Ikiran village in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, killing three worshippers and abducting 15 others during a vigil. According to the statement, the incident occurred at about 8:30 p.m. while worshippers were holding a night vigil at the prayer ground. channelstv.com/2026/05/24/ban…

@UnkleAyo This is not funny 😂

A moving man in Nigeria should, maybe, not move today - Because they might move the moving man and ask his family for a moving ransom. In the intention of a moving man to meet his luck, he might meet the movers of moving men.

@EmmmanuelAllen @Humbhle_ak @UnkleAyo We all know that life is not 1+1=2. We all know that working hard or making efforts doesn’t guarantee success. This truth is the whole point of optimism🥰

@kingdavidfirst @Humbhle_ak @UnkleAyo If you say so David. If you say so.

A moving man might not always meet his luck. Sometimes a moving man would have moved before his luck arrives. Other times, a moving man's luck would have left before the moving man eventually decided to start moving.

@EmmmanuelAllen @Humbhle_ak @UnkleAyo Pessimism.

@kingdavidfirst @Humbhle_ak @UnkleAyo Calling reality pessimism does not change the fact that effort and outcome are not always proportional. Plenty of people work hard for long periods and still struggle because life is not a controlled equation. Calling it pessimism does not change the reality of how life works.

@EmmmanuelAllen @Humbhle_ak @UnkleAyo Peak pessimism

@Humbhle_ak @UnkleAyo You can be unlucky for 365 days, brother. You think there are no people who gave maximum effort all year and still did not get what they wanted? You can show up every single day for 365 days, put in maximum effort, do everything right, and still not get the outcome you wanted.

But if he keeps moving, he will always meet his luck. He has no control over the location or timing of his luck. The only thing he controls fully is his movement. A moving man has one job, keep moving. He cannot be unlucky for 365 days in a year if he shows up everyday. Sooner or later, he walks into his luck.

Maybe the value of the friendship you’re offering is just too easy to reject for sex. People keep saying "men can’t handle platonic friendship" but pause for a second, ehat exactly does the average woman offer a man in friendship? Most men already get loyalty, laughter, and shared interests from their male friends. The truth is, most women don’t bring much beyond emotional dumping and a need for constant affirmation. Although there’s certainly a group of women who are sharp, funny, challenge men’s thinking, motivate them, and even share business ideas or opportunities... those women are rare. And if you keep finding that men either want sex or nothing, maybe it’s not about them being shallow maybe the friendship you’re offering just isn’t valuable enough to compete with attraction.

@Morris_Monye Your resignation letter and explanation made things look like you no longer believed in the idea of an Obi. The people angry with the way you handled things are well within their right to be. You are your human and only you know where your heart truly is.

But what exactly did I do 🤷 The new one is that I said I have no candidate. PO was in ADC coalition (which I vehemently warned against because Atiku is Atiku) and everyone (even you reading this) committed to that coalition. I said ok if that’s the case I do not have a candidate until a candidate is produced and we all align with that candidate. Prior to that I was on my own. Rarely seen in public (even till now). Didn’t tweet or say much about ADC matters and just kept to myself. Watching the entire process. Now that he’s in NDC as a confirmed candidate, I’m free from that vow. He remains the most credible candidate. I’ve been quietly mobilizing in my LG and the response has been massive. I am action action and may have been frustrated at how things were slow but my heart is always with a new Nigeria. I’m so tired of the way things are in the country. The economy collapsed my business too (part of why I had to step back to see if I could salvage something) I still strongly believe all these is a vendetta by those trying to settle personal beef and neutrals are being drawn into it. Let everyone look at it with an objective mind.

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