Lessons from a security guard

Don't give up

The year was 2001. My entry-level job was in a gated estate that was quite far from home so I had to hustle to get to work very early and ended up leaving late literally every day. With that schedule, I became friends with one of the security guards at the gate.

He was young, smart, and had a quirky sense of humor. He told me he was just working during the day so that he could study at night for his bachelor's degree at the Lagos State University (LASU).

At the same time, I was studying for the GRE so that I could travel abroad for my master's degree. So we hung out a lot. Two years later (2003), I got a scholarship to study in America for my master's degree. Eight years later (MBA + PhD + work experience), I came back to Nigeria to work as a director in the same company. The company was much bigger and so many things had changed apart from one thing.

That guy was still at the gate and he had given up hope of finishing his first degree. We have to admit that there are many difficulties that could have prevented him from moving forward. Life is hard in Africa and there is little institutional/governmental support. In addition, it is hard to do anything if your parents are very poor on our continent. But we can't stop moving. We can't give up hope. We can't stop fighting for a better future. If we stop moving, everything just stays the same. If we stop fighting, nothing happens.

The most important thing we need on our continent is a resurgence of our fighting spirit. Life has pushed us down. The joint evils of slavery and colonialism started the downward spiral while the retinue of corrupt government officials has further devastated our continent. But we must never stop fighting for a better future for ourselves and our families. It's all in each individuals' hands. The governments won't help so we must lift ourselves up and continue to move forward.

This gentleman worked at the gate for 10 years. He had hopes and dreams. He started working towards a better future but dropped out and gave up. The lesson is simple. Times are hard; moving forward is very difficult. But we have to keep fighting. We can't afford to give up.