Neediness is sometimes self-imposed.

When folks brew warga at home and they leave surplus sugar all over the place, my mom (RIP) will tell them: “Omar will soon come and put all these in his sugar bowl and y’all will eventually go to him for sugar” – she knew her boy knows how to be penny-wise, and not just 'penny-wise and pound-foolish'.

I spoke about lack of opportunity the other day, but I believe neediness is sometimes self-imposed and the primary causes are: inordinate pride, culture of laziness, misplaced priorities, attention garnering and lavishness – and I won’t unpack these terms because they aren’t Latin. I will only give instances:

The other day I told a homegirl that if I was a lady, I can use one synthetic hair many times and nobody will know. I only need a brush and a pair of scissors, but that’s so unlikely for someone who feels so big to reuse. Folks want to wear a 12thousand Dalasi hair on a 12Dalasi head to every occasion and by all except prudent means.

If you scrap stuff because you can always buy new stuff when the need arises, the need will someday arise and you’re going to wish you had not thrown stuff out. If you’re too lazy to wash or you’re in the habit of wearing your finest clothes to do chores, your wardrobe will never flourish. If you don’t do your dishes on time or repair repairable gadgets, you’ll keep buying avoidable replacements

If you don’t cook because your favourite actress in ‘Glamour Girls’ doesn’t, you’re being fooled, because eating out or doing ‘Chinese’ everyday is not only unhealthy but also unsustainable – and cooking more than necessary is not a sign of affluence as you may think; in fact nobody fancies wastefulness. You should perhaps wait until you’re cooking for a spiritual union.

If you can’t do anything by yourself as in ‘DIY’, you’ll always pay for stuff, thereby gobbling up what you could’ve used on something else. If you feel too big to walk from Harry’s to Zenith Bank on Kairaba Avenue and keep fit in the process, you’re losing both health and wealth, and when shit happens, Dr. Gaye will more than gladly be there to collect avoidable consultation fees.

Folly is when you’re not able to afford breakfast but can afford to smoke dinosaur looking ‘Joints’ every blessed day, or when you cannot pay your tuition fees but able to be at the VIP section of every known birthday bash. Being painfully desirous of driving a V8 when you cannot afford a gallon of gas is foolishness, and if you expect some ‘Mungu’ to pay for it, he’ll in time wise up and you’ll be sorry.

If you never think about spending on anything gainful, because someone out there will always provide, you’ll be damned if the stream dries up - and naturally, the supported will be affected if misfortune should occur to the supporter....Donc, nanj len bayi tayal, bayi star-star lou bi, teh bayi yaha. Sakanaal warrna jaam!

Oh! Did I say I saw someone come all the way from Koina to Bakoteh to buy an ordinary nail polish? Yeah - she wanted to take a couple of ‘selfies’ at a shopping mall, and that’s the worst trap of all - becoming a brand-whore. I’ll talk about that later.