Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Life might not be that difficult for me today, but it was not the same story in my undergraduate days and in my early days after leaving school.
Life was as difficult as it could be.
There's hardly a phase of difficulty that I haven't experienced.
Homelessness, starvation, trekking for kilometers because of the inability to afford transport fares etc.
I have experienced all of this; to say the least.
During this period, something interesting happened that I'd love to share here.
I had a friend, whom we did so many things together.
When I was nursing the dream of becoming a rap artist, I recorded a rap track with this fellow.
My first ever public performance as a performing artiste was done with him.
I said all that just so that you could have a glimpse of how close we were.
We were both dreaming of making it big.
We tried our hands on several ventures and we worked on different projects together.
At a point, he confided in me about a plan to leave Nigeria to Lebanon through his father's friend.
He told me that he wants to be exporting red (palm) oil down there, but he'll like to move down to the country to be controlling his merchandise from that ends.
He even outlined the process to me, and it made a whole lot of sense.
As a lover of good things, I love it when young men are making big moves.
I loved my friend's idea.
I made my contributions, both in cash and in kind, to support his dream.
I wished him well and bade him farewell.
I continued in my local hustles.
Months passed.
He didn't contact me, and I couldn't reach him as well, because I only had his local number.
I honestly really didn't care about the fact that he didn't make an attempt to me. Maybe, I did care, but a little. I was only genuinely concerned over his well-being.
I know how difficult it could be to be settle-in in a new location. Besides I don't think that anyone owes me anything. My concern wasn't from a selfish or an entitled point of view.
He isn't mandated to call me and I'm very much okay with that.
Nevertheless I use to ask of him, each time I ran into his younger siblings, and the report I got each time I asked was that he was doing well.
Those good report use to gladden my heart.
"My bosom man is making strides as an importer in overseas. That's a big one." I will often say to myself.
I guess my nose was blocked, that's why I could not smell a rat when another of my friend travelled to Ghana. Unlike my supposed bosom friend whom I have been speaking of, this other friend ensured that he kept in touch.
I'm just that guy people easily confide in.
As a result I was one of the very few persons that had knowledge of this friend's departure to Ghana. I guess that's why he use to call regularly, to update me of his progress over there in Ghana.
One day he told me that he was staying in the same building with my bosom friend who was supposed to be in Lebanon.
I tried to argue with him, but he insisted.
I still didn't believe him; reasons being that I was involved in almost every step this guy made towards living the country to Lebanon.
"What could possibly have taken him from a country in West Asia to a country in West Africa? what's the connection?". I soliloquized
Thinking about that now, I will say; maybe it's because the both countries are in the Western part of their respective continent.
On one occasion, while asking of him from one of his siblings, I passed on the news I heard about him being in Ghana instead of Lebanon, and his brother confirmed it to be true.
I still didn't give it much thought.
I'm not nosy, that could be the reason I smelled no rat.
We could be best friends and I'll still respect the boundaries you've set.
We could be best of friends today and you wake up tommorow and decide to exclude me from all your affairs and I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
I took my friend's sudden change of location as one of the many twists and turns life do serves us with.
Exactly a year since his departure, he called to announce his arrival in Nigeria. We eventually met.
It was obvious that my friend now had a lot of money with.
Before my eyes, I saw a guy who could hardly afford two square meals a day, about a year ago, buying landed properties whose value were in millions.
He also set up many other businesses that cost him millions of naira.
My friend was a millionaire in naira.
I was happy for him, even when I didn't get a dime from him. It was odd though, considering the fact that he used to call me to come over and witness his prosperousness.
Then he decided to tutor me on his line of business.
I guess he wasn't interested in giving me a fish, he wanted to teach me how to mend the fishing net and launch into the deep for a great catch.
Quite a thoughtful fellow.
But turns out that he wasn't into a legitimate business.
My personal value didn't agree with what he was doing for money.
So, I painfully turned down an offer that could have fetched me quick millions of naira.
That money could've done a lot for me.
A lot of people cussed and cursed me for being so stupid.
who turns down such an opportunity?
"who legitimacy epp?" (Of what use is legitimacy?) My countrymen would say.
Well, I turned it down though it was painful.
This happened in a december, few years ago.
Reflecting on it today, I have no regret whatsoever.
I would gladly turn down thousands of such opportunities again.
I want to make money. Huge amount amount of money I must say.
I can't even be loud on this enough.
But how I'm going to make it is equally important to me.
To me, it has never been about making it by all means or by any means.
The means must be legitimate. I'm that conscientious.
I'm not where I want to be yet.
But I've made remarkable process.
For that, I'm grateful and contented, even as I look out for more.