“…Things began to fall apart in my life the day I went to the students affairs office to buy nomination form to contest for faculty president.
The Dean of Students Affairs, an almost bald man in his early 50s and was said to be a pastor or something, looked sternly at me and others and told us that the election is only for those who have paid their school fees and other long list of criteria to meet.
Now, not only have I used my school fees for the oil and gas business, I have also used Amaka’s own.
Damzy was in final year. Her financial needs are reasonably above mine. I was already owing Jeff and my dad was a no go area, not after he had fully planned out his life according to the number of his children to correspond accurately with his retirement and his last born’s graduation.
I was perplexed. All the money I made from the Gas business were either used for consultation or for buying and sewing good clothes to appear Presidential.
Aside the school fees, I still needed to print posters, do campaign, observe men and most importantly, I needed a lot of money for decision night.
Decision night was usually a night before the election when the candidates were required to bribe students stakeholders, lecturers and non-academic staff to help influence voters to their side and rig where necessary.
They did not explain this thing to me very well. If I had known, I would have focused on my oil and gas business.
Now I have gone in too far to quit. Especially now that everyone believed I would win.
I told a few friends about my predicament and they urged me to borrow. That I would recover everything once I became the faculty president.
In their words, once I sell the faculty receipts of the largest faculty on campus, I would make millions and be in money. Then I will set up the faculty project fee. If students pay 5,000 each for faculty project, I will make more than 20 million. For that 20 million, I will build a sit-out for the students, use 5 million to settle my executives and the lecturers and non-academic staff, and then enjoy the remaining 10 million.
It sounded like a nice plan in my ears.
The problem was then, where will I borrow from in this economy?
I needed like 1 million for my school fees and Amaka’s own, then for the election.
For over a week, we couldn’t find a place to borrow 1 million naira from.
We went to the bank but they demanded collateral plus a long list of procedures which if we followed, would take nearly a month. We neither had that time nor collateral.
Money lenders were said to use juju on their money, ensuring that you must be unable to pay until the date given to you exceeds and also that what you used their money for would never be successful.
We were thinking and exploring all our options that, when one of Amaka’s regular and persistent toasters called her.
He has been toasting Amaka for several months but Amaka keeps giving him the same answer, which is that she has a boyfriend which everybody knows.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Would we swallow our pride and beg Amaka’s toaster for money?
Let’s find out in the next episode.
DUKE THE NIGERIAN
(NAVIGATING THROUGH SCHOOL, Season 3; Episode 4) was brought to you by Ugwuagbo Emmanuel Chizoba Daniel (Zoba De Great)