I can never forget 2022 when ASUU went on strike. Prior to that, my dad gave me about #200,000 naira for my schooling, but I squandered it all. Of course, he found out, got so disappointed and angry. He told me he wasn’t going to fund my schooling anymore and sent me out of the house. I ended up homeless.
I managed to get to Mushin and got a job at a Chivita factory. As a factory worker, I wasn't even earning up to #35,0000. I didn’t have anywhere to stay, so I slept at the factory. But I wasn’t living — this wasn’t the life I’d envisioned for myself.
Imagine leaving your house, where you had your own room, your own comfort for a place where you work from 7 to 7. I got so lean that I could feel my ribs. The room where I slept with other workers wasn't even as big as mine back home. However, I didn't realize my backwardness until one fateful day.
That morning in the room where I was sleeping with other guys, the place was dirty and so it needed to be swept. One of the workers just mockingly pointed at me to clean the room. "No be your house be dis" He said.
That statement hit me that I staggered while crying.
Imagine you had a mansion back home where you didn't have to work before you ate cos your parents already made things available, but your wasteful lifestyle, you were made to test the waters.
Immediately, I picked up my phone, angry and broken. I left the room and called my dad. I cried to him and said, “Dad, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I can’t live this life anymore.”
What surprised me was that for months, my Dad had been waiting for my call. I remember it was a Wednesday. The next question he asked was, “When do you want to come home?”
I told him, “Dad, I want to come home on Friday so I can tell the Company I’m leaving.”
Friday, I left Mushin And till today, I never went back there.
So yeah — when you feel like all odds are against you, call home. You might have offended them. You might have done something bad. But your family is still your family. Call home before you die of hunger.