The legacy project

When I was quite young, I remember my father had a saying which he said very often, “KI AWON OMO MI TO JE OGUN, MA JE OGBON” meaning: “BEFORE MY CHILDREN WILL CHOP 20, I WILL CHOP 30”

The true meaning was that he was going to eat majority of his wealth in his tummy before leaving any inheritance for his own children

It was said as a matter of fact, and we his children took his words to mean that all he had to offer us was our education but nothing by way of a legacy or an inheritance

This philosophy was so anti-scriptures and anti-Christian but every man will live according to his confessions

If you insist that all you will achieve in life will just be enough to feed your tummy and your children’s tummy, that is exactly what you are going to get

No other parent will leave an inheritance for your own children, we all pray not to labor for strangers to inherit

Abraham lamented to God: He said I have no heir and the man that will inherit my sweat is this slave- a stranger to my blood but a slave turned confidant

God told Abraham not to worry

God said, “You will have a son to whom you shall hand over your substance!”

Fathers must not only give their children education

They must strive to leave a legacy for them as well

Legacy means there will be a grooming period in which the father will pour himself into that son and prepare him for the future

If sons are to be greater than their fathers, then fathers must contribute to this greatness by selling their visions to their sons and backing them with the resources to fulfil that vision

David did this with Solomon. He had a vision to build a temple, he got all the materials for it and then he handed it all to Solomon as a legacy

Knowing we would inherit nothing from our father, and therefore absolving him of the duty to groom us to step into his shoes and harness his gains, we all went our separate ways upon completing our education

Everyone of us became successful in our own right but something happened which my father did not envisage

He didn’t die and he continued to be productive, he had evolved from a teacher, to a lecturer, to a business owner in America (Ran several businesses) and now he came back to Nigeria and started building legacy projects

He started with a guest house and then he founded a Polytechnic

When he conceived the idea of the polytechnic, everybody said it wad a bad idea, not because it couldn’t be done but because nobody wanted to be saddled with a vision conceived by a man in his late sixties, a vision that would most likely take some time before It becoming a profitable venture

The vision needed serious funding, and nobody wanted to commit that much of their hard earned money to it

My father took offence that nobody wanted to support him or believe in him

He forgot that he didn’t raise his children to believe in legacy; we were raised to make our own way after completing school

Legacies require a mindset, a grooming, a determination to sell the vision in such a manner that a runner can run with it

We had all developed our visions and asking us to dump it for his own was never going to happen

He found some friends and partners, set up a board and they began to put the vision of the polytechnic to work

Day by day, the plan unfolded

They started buying properties, registered the school and then went for their accreditation

He informed we his children of his progress and we were happy for him but nobody was going to dump their path for his

Eventually they started building

By this time there was no hiding the fact that the Lord has been faithful to me

We had started building Pneuma City as well and the speed of the work was such that you could not but see that the hand of God was evident on the project

My father reached out to me, “Junior,” he said, “I will like you to be involved in my project”

Junior replied, “Sir, where would I find the time? I have a calendar that leaves me little room for my own affairs and I have commitments to build a legacy for my own children

The scriptures say a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children

I intend to do just that

My father said, “but this is my legacy, something to leave to my children and grandchildren”

I laughed

“We were not raised that way sir, so we have all made our own way in life

We cannot now leave our made paths to join your vision

You cannot prepare a legacy nobody wanted and insist they must have it or own it by force

Legacies are built deliberately into children from their childhood

Old money knows this

Poor people always want to be rid of their burdens as soon as possible so they raise their children without a burden of the future, since they have none to offer

Some rich people (new money) are also not mindful of this but nobility understands this and grooming for them is deliberate

You raise children deliberately and you prepare them to take over legacies by involving them in the vision from their formative years

They must be as invested in it as you are and they must see it as something worth having

I didn’t see the polytechnic as something worth having, I have my own blue print and I am running the plan a step at a time

I do not want to amalgamate a white elephant project to it

The polytechnic is not a bad idea in itself but it is a bad idea for me to own or run it and nobody else wanted it

This was when it dawned on my father that he had left things too late in terms of legacy

Yes, he did well as regarding our education but left it a bit too late as regarding a legacy

None of his children wanted anything he had to offer

“So why am I working so hard?” He asked me

I said, “Because it makes you happy, You should be doing boat cruises around the world or climbing Kilimanjaro at this stage of your life, just enjoy your life sir

You are making money and you have no dependents at all

You can support charitable causes or travel the world

You chose to start something commendable, so build it sir”

That discussion was over a year ago

He called me again recently and said he was going to will his Polytechnic to the Federal Government or State government because he didn’t see any other way to keep it open and functional after he retires from active duty

By this time I had come to that point where I felt I could accommodate his vision as part of my plan to start schools and I told him so

He was overjoyed

Then he said, “There is a lady that had been with me since the beginning, I appointed her as the registrar of the school, I will like you keep her on ad the registrar when you take it over

I said, “No sir, I do not run my own businesses that way. Once I take over the school, I will put it under the right management and your appointees and board members, etcetera go with you”

He kept quiet for a while and then said, “Okay, I agree”

I knew I was going to have to help him with the polytechnic vision at a point

It was a noble idea but I wanted to negotiate for it from a position of strength

He might not have raised me with a legacy mindset but the Holy Spirit prepares us for the future deliberately

-GSW-