I, like many of my other course mates in the Military, started with a Salary of N9,000. It was later increased to N12,000, and then N18,000. It was N36,000 when I voluntarily and honorably discharged. I was a WAEC holder with a Nigerian Army Certificate of Education.
The Nigerian Army was gracious enough to grant me and hundreds of my other course mates, Seniors and Juniors study leave, which enabled us pursue tertiary education. Others got official sponsorship, which involved financial support.
I was below 17 when I was posted to commence full military service in Lagos. We mounted guards. We did night duty. Some went out on operations with the Police. As a soldier with the medical corps, we were the first responders to be deployed to the Ikeja cantonment bomb blast.
As a graduate from the University, I couldn’t count the number of night guard duty I performed, observing sentry all through the night under mosquito attacks.
For once, I never considered this as suffering. I would never position myself for gifts from contractors who came to our cantonment to work at the time. I remember buying my first phone, which was a Motorola for 14k on a N9k salary. I had saved up for it and had to carry it about for some months before I could get money to afford a SIM.
By the time I left the Army as a graduate, the salary was N36k. I took up a job that was paying N25k. As intelligent as I was then, I knew I didn’t have enough marketplace skills and experience to command much earning, so I opted for where I could learn. And I ensured not to add any burden on myself, particularly unproductive relationships. Thank God there wasn’t social media as it is today, but even if there has been, I know there is no way it would have had any negative hold or influence on me. I worked, I served and I developed in silence.
I did not expect to be able to afford what others ahead of me were able to afford. I still remember when all the acquaintances in our cycle bought the iPhone 1 in the second year, I was the only one who didn’t.
Meanwhile, where I was earning N25k, my secondary school mate was already an operations manager earning N80k. I served and learnt from him. At that time, some of our course mates had secured scholarships to study for Masters and up to PhD. Some were already working in ‘juicy’ parastatal while others in Multinational. I never felt behind nor that life was unfair or that the country was cursed. I simply stuck to my course. Scholarship wasn’t my opportunity. Today, I have been able to build many companies amongst which has earned the much coveted credit rating from both Agusto and DataPro and employing over 1,700 directly, contractually and indirectly.
There are many people without any skills today even earning better than what I earned then but still feel they are suffering or that the country is cursed. Many want to be in 3 years what should take 15 to 25 years to accomplish. Where is the joy, thrill and fulfilment of growth? The moment they cannot have it, they are suffering.
See, life is in stages and men are in sizes.
You don’t have car or the latest devices and you declare suffering. How?
I look at security men with lots of time and flexible work schedule today. Many of them think they are suffering and I tell them “hey, I have done night guard duties with rifle innumerable times as a teenager and young adult”, “the most important thing is that you grow while at this”. This is why I don’t subscribe to toxic motivation that attempts to exhort people to bypass process or that labels process as suffering. Or the name it claim it grace sermons.
What’s suffering? Inability to meet needs with reasonable efforts. Not inability to meet wants or covet things that one hasn’t paid reasonable dues for.
Suffering people deserve our help (not by handout alone, which is the easiest form of temporary relief to suffering). Suffering people must not be used as weapons to pursue selfish political or social agenda.
God bless you.
