There is no denying that the current economic climate of Nigeria has made some people find it quite hard to pick up their bills on their own without resorting to seeking financial assistance from their friends or family members. Although assisting people when they are in need is praiseworthy, it can become burdensome when the plea for financial assistance becomes reoccurring and from different people. If you aren’t careful with the way you help people whenever they bill you, you’d go broke and become miserable. Read on to learn 5 proven tips to avoid billing in Nigeria.
5 proven tips on how to avoid billing in Nigeria would be discussed below:
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What is Billing?
In the Nigerian context, “billing” refers to financial assistance or favours that people seek from their family members and/or friends when they are incapable of sorting out an issue at hand. Most times, these requests are impromptu and would often require urgent compliance. These requests could be in the form of a friend asking for financial assistance to sort out an urgent need or a love interest telling you she would love for you to give her human hair as a present as a birthday present, and so on.
Billing should not, however, be confused with your bills like electricity bills, house rent, taxes, cable subscription, waste collection bills, and so on, which are legitimate financial responsibilities tied to you. These bills are essential to your survival and to ensure the perfect flow of your daily activities.
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5 Proven Tips to Avoid Billing in Nigeria
Without further ado, let’s go straight into the crux of this article by providing you with 5 proven tips that can help you avoid billing if you agree to them. Read on.
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Tip 1 – Keep a Low Profile
One of the proven ways we believe can help you avoid billing in Nigeria is to keep a low profile. Think of it as, rather than stand out, blend in. This means you should avoid showing off, whether in real life or on social media.
Some examples of how you can blend in and keep a low profile include not driving flashy cars, not making open financial donations, not adorning too much jewellery, and not being boastful of the windfall you enjoy. By doing these things, people around you would not see you as a target to make incessant requests.
On the other hand, when you show off, whether or not you are worth the impression you create, you give off the notion to people around you that you are well-off and therefore would be capable of helping them out when they make demands. This will invariably lead to you receiving lots of pleas for help from people around you.
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Tip 2 – Promote Self-reliance
There’s a common saying that goes, ” If you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for life”. What this means is teaching a person a useful skill is more beneficial in the long run than filling a need for them temporarily. So, in the context of avoiding billing in Nigeria, what this means is instead of doling out money whenever someone makes a request, it’s better to give such a person ideas on how to make money himself.
You can promote self-reliance by telling those who are fond of making requests for financial favours with highly-sought after skills and handiwork they can develop so they can make their own money. If you have any skill you are proficient in and are willing to share with another person, you may as well teach the person how to make a living with such a skill.
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Tip 3 – Ignore Calls or Chats from those Who Always Beg
Another sure way to prevent billing is to ignore calls, chats, or text messages from people who are always begging you for money. Although this option might make those people who always beg you for money think you are standoffish, we think it’s better to be perceived as unfriendly than go broke from fulfilling the financial demands of those who are always begging you for money or a favour.
When you ignore calls, messages, or chats from this set of people a few times, they would get the hint that you are not willing to render any assistance and would refrain from making further demands in the future. You may even go as far as not commenting on their social media posts or viewing their statuses.
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Tip 4 – Keep Away from Those Who Always Ask You for Money
You know those who are always in your inbox or calling you to ask for money. One sure way to stop them from disturbing you is to keep away from them. Cutting out communication and/or visitation will go a long way to
creating the much-desired space between you and those that always beg for money.
You may choose to lose their number, unfriend them on social media, or any other method that would keep them away from you. With an already established distance between you and this set of people who always beg you for money and/or favours, they would find it difficult to reach out to you out of the blue to make a request for financial assistance.
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Tip 5 – Give Only What You Can Afford to Lose
Due to the harsh economy of Nigeria at the moment, there’s no denying that many people are finding it hard to cater to their basic needs. So, no matter how we try to avoid this social menace of billing that has become commonplace in Nigeria today, one or two people still would ask you to render financial assistance to them. In this case, where all other means of avoiding the billing don’t work, only render help with what you can afford to lose to those you feel need your assistance. These altruistic acts should be done sparingly though, or else you’d make sacrifices for others to your detriment.