Have A Plan

In 2016, I had an unfamiliar visitor in my home.
A man who was thirty years older than me, who had lived in the USA for many years.

He said he was tired of the USA and had resolved to return to Nigeria.
I asked him what he intended to do for money, and he said politics
I asked him how much he had in the bank, and he said, "Nothing."

How do you intend to do politics in Nigeria without money?
He said he had a lot of friends with whom he used to do politics in the 80s before moving to the USA in the early 90s. He intended to reestablish connections with them and see where that gets him
I told him his exit strategy from the USA was poor
He had no property in Nigeria, no money, and he was closer to seventy than sixty in age

He said he would like me to agree with him in prayer that things will work out for him
I told him things won't work out
When you are young, you can afford to coast along in life and hope something good happens to you or that you get some good luck

If you don't, you have some time to recover and plan.
At his age, he needed an iron-clad plan, not prayers.
He insisted that I must pray, so I did.
He went to Oyo state with a plan to meet with the governor, who was an old friend.
He waited for twenty days in a hotel until he was booted out because he couldn't pay the bills anymore.

He went to Osun State to stay with an old friend who had a block-making factory
He ended up working for that friend as a site supervisor in order to make ends meet
He suffered in Nigeria for a year
It was so bad that he couldn't raise the funds to buy a ticket to return to the USA.

He reached out to me and said he has learnt his lessons and he would like to return to the USA and restrategize.
He went back to the USA, and he executed a good plan.

He got a job at 67, lived frugally, and sent most of his earnings to Nigeria to build a house
After building the house, he got land for farming (which he could leverage on to get a loan), and he started a school.

By the age of 70, he returned to Nigeria as he had always wanted to, but this time he was in charge of his own destiny.
He didn't have to look up to anyone for a handout, and he also had staff members whom he provided for monthly.

It is important to have a plan for your life and to follow through when it comes to its execution.

PS: Don't live your life as one who depends on the goodwill of others in order to meet your needs. The world is not kind to the have-nots.

-GSW-