Thread by @GbengaWemimo

The model was not sustainable
He realized that too late
He graduated from the university and found himself in the labour market
The monthly allowance from NYSC had been his only source of real income after graduation
He had high hopes he would get a job right after serving but

things didn't pan out that way
After two years of roaming the street in search of a good job, he decided to settle for anything he could get
What he got was a job as a security guard
The salary was 18000 naira per month
It was an insult of a job and the conditions were inhumane

He and another guard would be sharing a small security room in an office day and night for six days a week
He got only a day off
He wouldn't have taken the job under any circumstances but his older sister whom he was living with won the American visa lottery and left the country

He was homeless and desperate
The job offered him a roof over his head and meals for his tummy
He was also able to beg off work to attend interviews because his partner was a very considerate guy
Seven months after he started the job, his reasonable partner was summoned to the

village
His partner was supposed to spend a week in the village
His partner never came back
They gave him a new partner after a month
The new partner was not as considerate as the first
His prospect of getting another job began to go dim
He despaired for life
One evening, his new

partner told him somebody was asking for him
The person was his former partner
His former partner told him that by the time he got to the village his father had died and he inherited his father's tomato farm
That was why he stayed back in the village, it was almost harvest season

He asked his friend what he came to do in Lagos
His friend said he came to negotiate a deal with a tomato paste manufacturing company to supply his harvest to them but the deal he was being offered by the tomato paste manufacturer was not a good deal
The manufacturer knew he was

desperate because the harvest was delayed by his father's death and he was trying to take undue advantage of his desperation.
As he listened to his partner, he saw an opportunity
He called his older sister's husband and told him what was going on
His older sister's husband was a

banker
He spoke with some friends and they bought the harvest at a good price
They also committed the harvest to his partner's care to dry the tomatoes and prepare them for export
The solution helped both parties
He was also compensated by both his partner & his sister's husband

The money he made was over 200,000 naira
He asked his partner if he could join him in tomato farming
His friend agreed and they began to cultivate tomatoes together
After every season, his sister's husband and his partners would buy the harvest and export them
The relationship

was symbiotic
They planted and supplied the harvest to his sister's husband and his associates
They were both young and spent their gains sparingly
He saved most of his income and continued to prospect for a better opportunity in life
Eventually, he met a lady in the course of

his work
The lady was the human resources manager for a tomato paste manufacturing company
She also happened to be the daughter of the industrialist who owned the company she was working with
They got talking and fell in love
The lady told him her father would never allow her to

get married to a poor tomato farmer
They both went to meet the lady's mother
The lady's mother told them she will support their wedding provided he was willing to get a better job
He told the lady's mother he was willing to do anything better if he got the chance
Two weeks later,

the chance came
He was offered a job as a procurement officer in another tomato paste manufacturing company owned by some Lebanese investors
He was offered the job due to the good word put in for him by the lady's mother but he can only keep the job based on performance
He was

determined to keep the job and marry his wife within a year
The job entails traveling from farm to farm inspecting tomatoes and purchasing them for his company from the farm at a cheaper rate rather than the one transported to the factory by the farmers which is usually more

expensive and usually rotten
When the harvest season came, he convinced his partner to sell their tomatoes to his company
They made more money and he was able to surpass his target
He was able to rent a comfortable apartment and buy a car
He proposed to his babe and she said yes

Things finally fell into place for him
He took his babe home to meet his parents
When he got there he met his sister's husband
His sister's husband was very angry
He was counting on the tomato harvest for his export venture and was shocked that the harvest had been diverted to

another source
His sister's husband said he had a shortfall of supply and as a result found himself in a huge debt
He didn't know what he was expected to do or why his sister's husband was all up in arms against him
His parents tried as much as possible to diffuse the tension but

the relationship between him & his sister's husband had been irreparably damaged
In his defense, he had not promised the harvest to his sister's husband and he didn't also collect a penny from him
It was like a gentleman's agreement but he couldn't afford to miss the opportunity

to right the course of his own life
The standoff lasted five years
They eventually made up during the naming ceremony of his second son
His parents insisted he had to apologize and he did
His Sister's husband forgave her and they were restored to talking terms but he didn't

regret his actions
He said if he was given that option again, he would still do the same thing
if one is on fire and one's child is on fire, the logical thing was to do was quench the fire on self before venturing to help others

@threadreaderapp compile