America: A Dream or an Illusion?

As soon as Emeka graduated from grade school, his father was transferred to a bigger school in Aba city and the entire family moved to Aba. He continued his education at a comprehensive secondary school where he graduated with flying colors and gained admission to study medical science at the University of Lagos. At the commencement of his second year, Emeka switched from medical school to economics. His father was not happy with the change and threatened to stop paying his tuition fees. Emeka, however, persuaded his dad with the help of his mother, and his father’s best friend. The old man finally relented, and Emeka was allowed to continue his study of economics, ultimately graduating with a good grade point average. Now, his father encouraged him to continue on to graduate school, but the son saw things differently. Emeka wanted to be financially independent of his father and elder brothers, and he looked forward to having fun with his friends, now that he had become quite popular among his peers. Above all, he had never had the opportunity to attend nightclubs and socialize with girls, because his father was extremely strict, and had taught him moral purity. Emeka therefore saw his graduation as an opportunity for freedom, to get a job, and check out the girls.

Within a few weeks of his graduation Emeka landed a job at the bank, starting as a front desk teller, and rising to the rank of branch manager within two years. He had finally became ‘the man’ - the man in control, the man running a bank with fifty-plus employees, and the man in control of over five million dollars at his own branch. He lived in a super-furnished mansion, drove two sharp looking cars, and employed two maids and a driver - all provided and paid for by the bank. Socially, he was also ‘the man’. He emerged as a leader among his peers, and because he was so likeable and easy-going, he called the shots. Emeka, ’The Man’ was sophisticated and handsome and the women were after him -- he began to change them like clothes, a marked contrast to those days at the University, when he abided by the wishes of his father. He enjoyed reading his daily newspapers in his chauffeur-driven car every morning, which was given a daily cleaning by one of his maids. His office occupied the 15^th floor of the Marina Building, with an impeccable view of the Atlantic Ocean, and he would normally walk in to be besieged by a handful of contractors who had been waiting in his oval shaped reception lobby. Usually, these contractors were there for Emeka’s approval of loans, or to repay loans they had already obtained. Emeka was busily occupied from the moment he walked in and assumed his daily duties.