In the book, titled Thirty Things You Must Do Before You Are Thirty, Ayotunde Okunowo advocates the ownership of a house, however small, before you are thirty years old.
I have never met anyone averse to owning a house, not even my lovely JW friends. A house even makes for a good collateral, and is an important business asset. But as my people say: Àyangbe ajá dùn, k’ájá tó gbe nkó?
Building a house is no child’s play… especially times of recession, inflation and misplaced priorities. But it is doable, if you pay attention to the little things, first of which is The Decisions You Take.
I am a firm believer in the equity of Jehovah, the just father of all. Kò s’éni t’Ólórun ò se fún, no one has never received from God. God waters both rich and poor, and blesses male and female. Ultimately, it is what we do with our seeds that differ. Remember the Parable of Talents (See, The FOUR Generations: Why You Do The Things YOU Do! A book by me)
It is from the Second Law of Thermodynamics that we learn that orderliness has a high price but destruction is free since even the universe favours entropy. And so we know that it takes a lot of discipline, sacrifice, to build anything let alone a good house. “Money slow to enter, money quick to go…”
You cannot live large at your tender age, feed slay queens, and finance liabilities, and yet build a house from honest earnings. The cost of success is sacrifice. You cannot have your cake and eat it. Remember, I said honest earnings…
The Company You Keep are just as important, since the sheep that walks with pigs will not just grunt, but also eat corpses! Invariably, birds of a feather flock together, and birds of diverse plumage flocking together will blend.
Last is The People You Listen To. Whom d’you go to for help? Nothing goes for nothing, nothing is free, and the average human is selfish! I have found that the people I run to for help almost always have their own agenda, and always protect their own interests.
#AykforPresident2031
I now illustrate with my own little experience…
Several years ago, I found farmland in rural Ogun State going for a ridiculous fifteen thousand naira (N15000) per plot. I ran around to raise money to augment my meagre savings. “F” insisted that medical school was a priority. “U” just said not to buy, no reason. “M” believed land issues were not for young adults. Only my lawyer believed in me, but twas not his place to finance my dreams, and so I didn’t ask.
“FF” was a bosom friend of the land owner, so we went to him to help us negotiate a reduction. But he had his own children, didn’t he? So the land became twenty thousand naira (N20000) per plot with an additional leave-it-or-take-it attitude! Well, if I couldn’t afford it before, how could I now?
The same people who said land was bad and unadvisable have bought more since then. Whom d’you listen to? Whom d’you run to for help? The attitude of the average individual seems to be: You too must make the same mistakes I did. And that’s why people who would never buy concrete blocks would advise you not to mould your own!
These little things make you, or break you. Eni tí ò ní nnkan kan, ò ní nkankan; if you don’t have one thing, you have nothing. Ó tán l’énu, ó kù n’íkùn àgbà… Be wise! Only Jehovah never fails: “Except the Lord build the house…” – Psalm 127: 1.
Ayokunle Adeleye – Sagamu
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