By Rilwan Balogun
In the last forty-eight hours, there has been a discussion on Twitter about the place of privilege and the agency the wealthy have over choices that can’t be replicated by the average to poor.
The discourse emanated from Nigerian billionaire, Femi Otedola’s soon-to-be-released book ‘Making It Big’. A popular Nigerian X(formerly known as Twitter) user and academic researcher, Ayomide Salako (@UnkleAyo) tweeted that the book is not meant for the average Nigerian as what Otedola will most likely write about won’t be practicable to the everyday Nigerian.
EDITOR’S PICKS
While employing sarcasms and funny innuendoes, Salako’s well-communicated argument generated a buzz which must have transcended his own expectation. It led to a social media debate on the place of privilege and the power of a strong head-start.
That tweet has generated millions of views and thousands of reactions across social media, led to layered narratives with cross-generational nuances and a need for reflection. To a great degree, it also exposed the difficulty of being Nigerian by birth and the state of the economy and how it builds across generations.
Salako didn’t stop at tweeting, he went on to hold a Space which lasted more than five hours and had more than 100,000 people tune in. On the scale of popularity of discussions, that’s a grand success.
That discourse, however should lead to deep introspections at the real place of privilege in our lives as people and the agency we have in the world. As thousands reacted in their separate experiences and voices, disagreeing and even coining terms like ‘Lapo babies’ to describe children of the poor, I thought about the place of privilege in our lives.
Salako is not entirely wrong in his conclusion, however, his point lacks a nuanced understanding of the place of knowledge. He focused on the messenger, with the message even yet to be revealed. It was dismissive of Otedola’s experience — whatever it may be.
His point being that Otedola comes from wealth, and will have a unilateral idea and ideology of what wealth building will be, is reductive. Salako concluded that Otedola does not know the place of the average Shehu or Nnamdi hustling on the streets of Kano and Aba and does not have the agency over such narrative. That’s to say whatever his points about making it big could be, it will be undemocratic and lacking of inclusive criticality.
What he failed to point out is that advantage is a virtue and by looking above the current ranks, there’s a clear possibility of not seeing the difference between oneself and those who don’t have the same opportunities at a decent life.
It could be argued that this is a conservative or philosophical way to think, but completely throwing out the baby with the bath water, especially in the case of knowledge is lacking in depth. Intentionally failing to see the applicability of grand and sometimes even unfamiliar ideas, and deploying it to one’s situation and position is not an open-minded way of thinking.
The Man Who Dared the Odds
Recently I read a book, ‘Risk and Return’ by Yomi Jemibewon about his story of returning to Nigeria and how financial services firm, Cardinal Stone came into being.
Jemibewon, son of a former General in the Nigerian Army had travelled to the United States for his tertiary education and graduated as one of the best students in his class. Obviously, he comes from a privileged place.
He holds a B.Sc and M.Sc in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech. and also has an MBA from the The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania.
He worked in Motorola Incorporated as a systems design engineer and also at Bain & Company.
His life had gotten a start many would beg to have. He was in the right place and was surrounded by opportunities.
Yomi was at Bain when he grew tired of working in that company in the heart of New York City, United States. He had everything going on well for him except his peace of mind. In the book, he said he was losing it and was failing to see himself.
He’d spent more than a decade in the US putting himself on a solid pedestal, and when he thought about going back home, he knew it was going from square one.
Yomi called his father, the general to inform him of his decision to leave his well-paid job for Nigeria where he’d left for many years and had no idea of how things ran at the time. It was a risk.
His father said he’s no longer in service and would not be able to curry favours for him to get clients. He ran a financial service company and needed big people to bring their businesses to his company. It turned out that his expectation was somewhat bullish.
With incredible experience already in place from the United States, he applied for a job at Avanti Capital Partners (now Argentil Capital) and became the Vice President of the company’s Investment Banking team.
Even that wasn’t the life he envisaged when he relocated from the United States to Nigeria. While he shared his ideas with friends and family and their parents, he spoke to his friends in school and the Nigerians he knew from the financial service companies in New York City. They were all doing well and were brilliant people who could spare some dollars.
He invited one person, and they soon became four. Four brilliant people who wanted something of their own and were in good places.
They agreed to his proposal to come together and build a firm. As the man who had the idea, he pitched it relentlessly and faced multiple rejections. The company had only two staff at some point and worked from two rooms. He said for two years, his Taiwanese-American wife handled everything at home because he couldn’t afford it.
He’d relocated his wife to Nigeria and had to work hard to ensure that wasn’t a waste of their time. They founded a company alongside three other Nigerians whose experiences in life were varied but all had a footing in the finance world.
They could spare some money. They spent their money to establish the business and the earlier years were tough. They had many breakfasts. They committed many errors but didn’t back down. Through it, Yomi and his partners stayed true to the cause. That strength of character birthed Cardinal Stones, a multimillion dollar company.
This article is not about selling what Cardinal Stones do. It’s about privileges and your place in life’s trajectories.
Yomi Jemibewon is privileged. He was born into an Okun family from Kogi State that greatly values education. His father is an army general and that means something in the Nigerian context. He had the upstart in life that should kick anyone on to greatness.
While Jemibewon’s story is one of returning home with elite credentials, Babs Omotowa’s journey begins from the humblest of places.
Once A Teacher, Son of Teachers, Now An Industry Voice
In another book ‘From Storeroom to Boardroom’, Omotowa, a former Managing Director of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited and Vice President of Shell Global wrote about his story from being a storekeeper to becoming one of the biggest names in the C-suites of the local and global oil and gas industry.
Omotowa, born to two teachers is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited. In his book, he outlined how he rose from nothing.
His story of studying Industrial Chemistry at the University of Ilorin to teaching Chemistry and Mathematics at Bishop Smith College in Ilorin before going on to work as a management trainee at Shell.
Omotowa in his book wrote that his management trainee job came as a surprise as he took a leap of faith. His closest friend who believed they stood no chance because they came from average homes was shocked to see him get the job.
At Shell, he learnt everything he knows about oil and gas, working from their stores and ensuring supplies are attended to before getting bigger responsibilities.
These are two separate stories from people who come from very different backgrounds and had different opportunities in different generations.
There are hundreds of stories detailing different people’s life courses and how they became successful. It’s easy for anyone to simply place the success of another down to unequal opportunities but everyone in their respective rights have opportunities others don’t have.
If you’ve gone to the university or any higher education of learning, you have been given a chance at life. What becomes of life afterwards is down to a lot of factors but you’re better than millions of others who never had the chance to go to school.
They look at you with admiration, and think your life is in fact better than theirs. They want the opportunities you have and believe sometimes that you don’t deserve it better. It’s an interesting way to think.
People born into wealthy families cannot reject their status because of the opinions people will have about them. They also probably know already that their hard work will always be subjected to scrutiny, and questions will always be asked of their successes.
‘Nepo babies’ and ‘trust fund kids’ have a lot of privileges, perhaps greater than yours or mine but when you think deeply about the privileges you’ve been exposed to, and look back, you’ll understand it is just the way of life.
The one who has what to eat everyday of the year thinks the one who has what to eat everyday of the year anywhere on earth is privileged. People who have decent jobs believe the ones who own businesses are privileged.
It’s not a lie that some people have their lives all sorted before their birth, but to deny the enormity of your grace even in your struggle is just a product of your endless comparison. You compare yourself to the next person. You want to become a lot of things you are not or yet to be but believe life has given it to others without hassles.
It’s right. You’re correct. But it won’t change. Life has always given some people the blessing of opportunities even when they don’t ask for it. Other people may have to work tirelessly for it and sadly, probably will not get it.
FURTHER READING
You probably are working hard to give your children the same opportunities and it’s not coming on a platter of gold. Do your bit, and move on. Life is not a fair weather. When it rains, run for cover, and when the sun shines, make hay. And if you patiently look at those weather conditions, you’ll find your sun somewhere, no matter how little.
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