Buying and selling of condemned iron in Okocha village was the trending business in the early nineties. Chief Obi, a rich business mogul was the head of all those who buy and sell the condemned irons. As rich as Chief Obi was, none of his children were enrolled into a school.
On a fateful day, Obiora, the son of Chief Obi sighted his father counting a large sum of money. Normally, Chief Obi has always been known to be wealthy but no one knew it was to that extent because no one know how much he is worth.
Papa, welldone sir. Can I make a request?, after Obiora stood in the corner where he took a glance at his father, he concluded on being courageous and telling his father what he had thought about.
Ah, welcome my son, Obiora. Sit on the bench, just like every other local igbo man, he hit the bench signaling to Obiora to sit on the bench and also spat on his hand to moisturize it so as to make it easy to count his money.
Daddy, I want to go to school like my mates. Everyone knows you to be a wealthy man in the society and it is bad that even fathers who are not as rich as you are enrolling their kids into schools but my siblings and I are always asked to stay at your iron shops, as little as Obiora was, he was sensible and that’s why his father liked him more even than his older siblings.
Being a sensible child, his father mostly agrees with whatever he says but on this afternoon, it didn’t end well. As for Chief Obi, he just said the best thing and did the best thing a parent can say and for Obiora, he just got a heartbroken news anyone child can ever get from his parent.
See, Obiora, I will not let you and your siblings be a part of any form of education. As a matter of fact, this money you are seeing, I will use it to buy more condemned irons and keep them for about twenty years then, I’ll sell them when it’s expensive, Chief Obi said as he spat more on his hand and continued to count his money.
That was Obiora’s worst feeling ever. He realized that his father prioritized his irons and wealth over his education and that of his siblings.
After so many years, Chief Obi went to the room when he was about to sell the condmened iron he bought so many years ago. It wasn’t what he expected.
What!!! How come rust took over all my irons? Chief Obi laments. The more he touched the irons, the more he found other rusty parts of the iron and he was more heartbroken.
Fifteen years ago, on that fateful day when Obiora came to plead with his dad about his education, the irons were worth about two million Naira but now, after fifteen years that all of the irons have rusted away, they were worth just a million naira.
The price is not even worth the capital that Chief Obi invested fifteen years ago.
Then, Chief Obi agreed that his investment on the irons is a boondoggle and he shouldn’t have kept them for years because irons get rusty.
On the village festival day, about twenty huge and expensive cars drove into the village. As they all alighted from their cars, they turned out to be Obiora’s childhood friend.
They were the few people whose parents struggled to enroll them into schools and strived to push them through the university level.
Then, Chief Obi regretted his actions. He should have invested in his children instead of investing in his irons which eventually didn’t end well.
After they all got home on the festival night, he summoned all his children to the living room and pleaded with them.
“I’m sorry, my children. I didn’t know that education was that important. If I knew, I was going to grant you all the opportunity to go to school. I believe that it is never too late. You all can still go to school and I’ll try my best to fund you,” he said.
For the first time in so many years, he agreed with his children and they all became a united family one more time.
It’s never too late for Obiora to go to school and succeed like his mates. His father enrolled he and his siblings in school and they had the opportunity their other friends had later in their lives.
