Money-making rituals some Nigerians practice to get rich

These beliefs emphasise an easier way to ensure wealth comes to you instead of depending on natural forces and luck.

These rituals are all based on superstitious beliefs and there is no proof that they actually work.

Have you ever heard “cut soap” for me. Many people believe that by bathing with certain soaps they will attract wealth.

Money baths are a ritualistic practice involving bathing in water infused with herbs, minerals, and objects believed to have symbolic power to attract wealth. Common ingredients in these soaps include cinnamon or mint, crystals, and gold.

Kayanmata means women’s thing. Apart from giving women sexual prowess, some kayanmata charms, especially the waist beads, are meant to attract favour. A Kayanmata website describes it thusly, “The love and attraction waist bead attracts love, good luck, money, and good things to you and makes you look super attractive.”

An addiction to a particular food vendor may not be normal. To make their food look more appealing and tasty and draw customers in, it’s thought that some food vendors cook with the same water used to bathe a corpse or wash their hands (omi ̬sanwô).

This is a means of manifesting wealth in the Igbo culture. The arrangement known as ogwu ego serves to both attract and foster successful business connections and protect the business.

Every “ogwu” configuration relies on specific elements: herbs, roots, and the life force harnessed through the withdrawal of the person’s blood.

However, ogwu ego comes from a less recommended spiritual source (Odinaani) for financial success. Afa divination suggests alternative practices like ima chi (knowing your chi) for overcoming financial obstacles.

This is because the concept suggests that a wealthy individual, whose relatives are poor, uses their ogwu ego to hinder the progress of their underprivileged relatives, collecting money that would have gone to their family, leading to their family’s eventual poverty.

The Igbo and Yoruba people are known for rainmaking. Igbo people refer to it as iha mmiri.

This is done to prevent rain from interfering with their ceremonies or stopping business, to irrigate their farms, and to increase agricultural productivity. The process involves incanting or burning a certain leaf, which releases fumes that stop the rain.

The idea is that by depending on a spiritual being and calling upon gods or ancestor spirits, one can momentarily control the elements for their needs.