As most people are currently aware, the world is going through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Most people are worrying about the effects the crisis would have on both their company and personal bottom line and are acting accordingly. However one of my colleagues made a comment the other day about how Nigerians are still partying like its 2007. I thought about it for a second and realised he was right. I have been out three times this year, and heard jist and I can confirm that people are indeed rocking. Think about it, there are there are three drivers in the Nigerian economy; oil, financial services and telecoms. The oil price has fallen through the roof, the stock market has crashed and the banks are rumored to be in trouble, telecoms on the other hand is still booming. However everybody rocking cannot work for MTN/Glo/Zain. So who can be doing the rocking? Let's break it down:

Girls in general are fine, after all this is Naij where they are not expected to pay for themselves. So females in their twenties and thirties (prime rocking age) are good. They can even still rock the expensive restaurants on girls night and still be cool. However I predict that guys will start watching their wallets and all that "of course you can bring a friend" will be a thing of the past. Tachers take note :D

Similar to the girls are the Expats. These guys get paid in dollars so no naira depreciation for them. No real bills as everything from housing to car to groceries are provided. So these guys are the true I Feel Alright Crew.

Bankers are not so fine even though they are rocking like they are. There are rumors of layoffs and paycuts, the subsidization of interest rates for bank staff is said to be over and they were definitely over-leveraged on the stock market. Any Banker that is Senior Manager and below should definitely not be rocking.

Oil company peeps are still alright, if they work for the international oil companies that is. If they work for a company providing services, they might not be doing so good. There are tons of rumors flying around about IOCs cutting back dramatically. Now these guys can still rock however only if they've built up substantial saving with all that cash they were earning in the good years. However this begs the question, why would you be using your savings to rock?

Manufacturing peeps should not even think about it. Granted there aren't that many of them rocking to start, mostly kids of rich manufacturing parents. However with the dollar depreciation slamming they hard, they definitely don't have any disposable income for the meanwhile.

Real Estate people can rock right now, but should be saving their money for when the bankers come knocking. Real Estate in Lagos has not softened as much as other assets, so those that deal in real estate still think that the boom times still on us are on us. These guys are banking on the inflated asset prices to continue and they are all in for a rude awakening. Anybody who knows what banks are like right now, would defintely stay away from the real estate guys. After all you don't want to be collateral damage :D I suppose if you funded your real estate with cash then you are alright. However if you did you more truly belong in the next group.

Of course the super rich amongst us will continue to rock without even blinking. After all if you are worth $100 million and you lose half of it you can still rock. I mean you might not be in St. Tropez this year, but you can still oppress the crowd at AutoLounge.

However I'm not saying don't rock, I'm just saying don't rock like it was 2007. Well unless you owe on your margin account, in which case you had better go on home. Yes that mean you Mr. Stock Broker.