You've just described how a functioning economy should work without giving any insight or proper questions? What you're missing is describing in any level of detail the most successful countries compared to the least, you'll find that people in Nigeria will find a way to exist, through many different routes - but for many it is almost at a subsistence type level and you could argue that the state does almost nothing to help them. Besides building roads and collecting taxes from what little business can operate, many of the poorest will have few interactions with the government which has pretty much abandoned them. Compared to somewhere like Spain which has a strong social safety net and healthcare, plus functioning (if a little slow) administrative surveys, the difference is vast.