Badero Olusola
"I am convinced that most people do not grow up...We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias."
- Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter
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I have been thinking about lots of things lately; some of which revolves around growing up and growing old.
When I was younger, I had this beautiful and glorious dream of becoming a soldier - with an amazing inspiration from the person of General Oladipupo Diya (Rtd), the former Chief of Army Staff and Vice President of Nigeria. He was from my town😀😀
As a kid growing up in a quiet town of amazing people, with unique value for brilliancy and celebration of excellence, Odogbolu, General Diya was a role model and a revered figure I dreamt of becoming when I grow up. I would line the street with other kids to count hundreds of vehicles in his convoy whenever he was visiting; I loved seeing the lively our town would turn in hours, with the influx of soldiers, well kitted security forces in their all green Peugeot salon cars playing with us the kids. I was so jealous that I wanted to grow up very fast. To me, he was the most powerful man on earth and I wanted to be like him. I would always ask myself, "why not?"
But something happens that changed my plan of becoming a soldier: Apart from the objection of my grandfather, who saw me as his only son, disagreed with the idea of me joining the military, the event of 1995 coup plot discouraged me completely. Seeing General Diya and others in chains and about to be sentenced to death for plotting to overthrow General Abacha sent shivers down my spine and only I knew how I felt about it at the time. "So he wasn't the most powerful man afterall?" 😫😫😫
Growing up in Odogbolu shaped my life generally, not anywhere else. A town we would pray for evil spirits not to burst out old water pipes so that we won't have to travel miles fetching water for domestic use. A town where survival is the watchword. Where the only way to help your dying neighbor was to take him to a local chemist for medication. I saw the good, the bad and the ugly part of life there just like everyone. So it was never easy. The lack of opportunity to really live up to one's potential. Schools were good back in those days and competition were rife. I was the best in my primary school, and among the best in my secondary. And the naughtiest, or among the naughtiest. But I was never a pushover in anything.
Let me tell you why you are reading this meaningless long poem in the first place;
I have seen people complain about virtually everything in life: From blaming the government, to family and village witches as the source of their misfortunes. I have seen people build things from the scratch and lost everything in a day without knowing why. We complain of our locations and environment, just like babies do - complaining because they are powerless and believes they must be helped.
"When you become a teenager, you step onto a bridge. You may already be on it. The opposite shore is adulthood. Childhood lies behind. The bridge is made of wood. As you cross, it burns behind you".
Apt! 👌🏾
I had no opportunity at all from anywhere that could have made me whatever I am today - I created them; the opportunities. They were never there.
I had no access to family inheritance that could have helped my education in anyway. Or any grants, or scholarship to encourage me to pursue any career I wanted, or family that could have fixed me up. They just had their own cross to deal with as well. So, I created my opportunities.
I used my relationship with different people to help myself in my journey of life. They gained, I gained, all happy.
I have seen students struggling to pay school fees of N180,000 because she's studying medicine. I asked her if becoming a pharmacist is a guarantee for her to pull herself and family out of poverty after graduation? She said yes but it will not happen just like that, it will take time - training and working, all that.
I asked if a year break would alter her dream of becoming a pharmacist? She was evasive in answering but said "not really". I reminded her of our old time discussion on going into beauty business and she told me "with 100,000", she would start a successful cosmetic business within her campus and still cope with studying. She had N100,000 of the N180,000 tuition, I told her to use the N100,000 and apply for 6 months break from the school and work on something new - a business of her own. Which if well managed, would see her through school and established her for life.
Well, she didn't take to my advice of using part of her school fees for a business, but my advice opened her mind to what she thought was too much a risk to take before. Today, she's no longer a oh pharmacist but one of the high street beauticians in Lagos. She's made it big.
Many of you have so much big dreams but are keeping them in the cooler until you become a graduate. That's wrong. Nigerian certificates will not make your dream of financial freedom come true. Don't get me wrong, it's a statement of fact.
Our universities are churning out hundreds of thousands of unemployable graduates every year, who will then have to struggle to fit into the already overcrowded employment market.
But leave that as it may, there's a lot you may be missing out out there that could have changed your situation long time ago. Again, don't get me wrong; I know about financial barrier towards many of these ideas, but when you get to the end of a path, don't turn back, make a new path. Who says you can't lead a new idea that will liberate other millions of people from poverty and lack?
I have worked as a construction worker, a farm laborer, a phone booth operator, a food supplement products marketer and others. The day I took the decision to travel out of Nigeria remained the most memorable day of my life. Because I came here on a purpose. The purpose of self discovery and personal emancipation. That will be a story for another day.
Many of us spend money on frivolities - parties, expensive shopping, cars and jewelries and still complain the economy is bad when your surge of income dwindled. Particularly the sudden money these days. The laziness of starting small makes you think it's impossible to get big by starting small. Some of you are staying hard to get good grades in your career course so that you can get a good job that pays well. But ask yourself; where is the job?
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.
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If you read to this point without giving up, then you are not far from taking that BIG decision that will change your life, for the better.
Share with others too and see their reactions!
Shalom!!!
Maiyegun
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