Africa isn’t short on talent. Africa isn’t short on ideas. Africa isn’t even short on resources.
What Africa is short on… is truth. We live in bubbles of beautiful-sounding delusions that feel good, look holy, even sound like wisdom but they chain entire generations to poverty.
Here are the 6 biggest lies we keep recycling and why they keep us STUCK.
1. OWNING A HOUSE = YOU MADE IT
This is one of the loudest African delusions and tomorrow, we’ll dismantle it fully. Owning a home in the village may be considered an asset but in the real sense,it might keep you stuck forever because it doesn’t generate income—it’s simply dead capital.
2. A UNIVERSITY DEGREE = GUARANTEED SUCCESS
Nobody says this out loud, but here’s the silent assumption: “Once my child graduates, our family will escape poverty.”
This belief turns graduation gowns into false gods.
Parents sell cattle. Families sacrifice everything.
And when the graduate comes back with no job, suddenly the dream feels broken.
But here’s the unspoken truth a degree without leverage, without a money skill, and worse still in a stvpid program. The system trained you to “qualify,” not to compete. Africa is FULL of graduates with NO strategy. Meanwhile, dropouts who learned execution build empires.
3. PRAYER FOR MONEY = MONEY WILL COME
This one is sensitive, but it must be said:
Too many Africans pray to escape what they should plan for. They go to overnight prayers, not to seek wisdom but to demand cash from heaven like it’s Manna 2.0. But here’s the unspoken truth: Prayer doesn’t replace work. It fuels it.
Even scripture says: “God blesses the work of your hands” not the emptiness of your pockets.
We’ve turned churches into lottery halls hoping for divine cash transfers instead of asking, “Lord, what should I build?”
4. DIVINE CONNECTION = A SHORTCUT TO WEALTH
You’ve heard it: “I’m just waiting for my destiny helper.” Translation: “I want someone to lift me so I don’t have to build anything myself.” This is the hidden addiction: Waiting for the prophet’s handshake. Waiting for the politician’s favour. Waiting for that “big man” to mention your name in the right room. Here’s the truth no one says – connections without value make you a parasite, not a partner.
Even if that “connection” comes, you’ll be dumped the moment they realize you can’t deliver.
Connections amplify what you already have. They don’t replace the grind you’re avoiding.
5. GETTING A VISA = AUTOMATIC RICHES
This is the loudest unspoken delusion in Africa.
People sell their inheritance for a stamp on their passport. They believe airports are altars of instant prosperity. But here’s what no one tells you: a broke mindset doesn’t expire at immigration.
It boards the plane with you. A lizard in Africa remains a lizard overseas!
That’s why so many Africans abroad are still broke – just broke in colder weather. Because changing geography doesn’t fix mental poverty.
There are also many people who don’t work hard enough in Africa,they think that by relocating, they will automatically become rich. They end up being frustrated abroad.
BLACK TAX OR HELPING YOUR RELATIVES
When you get money,you try to help every relative and friend you know. There is also black tax, where relatives depend on you for handouts—they want you to rescue them from poverty. These are things that can make you stuck forever.
THE BOTTOM LINE
These 5 delusions feel safe.
They sound wise.
They’re preached in homes, whispered in churches, repeated at funerals, and passed down like tradition.
But here’s the hard truth:
They keep you stuck. They keep you slow. They keep you begging.
Kill the delusions.
Start thinking differently.
Start working differently.
And watch how fast you leave the crowd behind.