How you an avoid being the last wealthy man in your lineage if you're managing a large business empire, by Anayo Nwosu

At was 3am in the morning and sleep had  ran away from the eyes of Akunnaya in spite of a double dose of sleeping pills he took six hours before. 

He clearly took the sleeping pills against his doctor's warning on the dangers of the overuse of strong sleep inducing drugs. 

But what else can he do when his longtime ally, Hennessy Cognac could no longer make him sleep?

"Honey, are you still awake?" was all his wife, Dumtufuo, could offer as she turned to the other side of the bed and slept off.

It has dawned on Mazi Akunnaya that he was alone in his agony.

He had misfired.

He was at his wit's end on how to remedy an already bad situation but he sincerely hoped that his last ditch action would work. But, nothing in the world is foolproof.

He had married a beautiful woman from a Ahiazu Mbaise in a neighboring state who he now blames for all those wrong decisions he took.

Was it not the woman that made him abandon the family tradition to embrace modernity?

The name "Akunnaya" is not without a loaded meaning. It means "a man made rich by inheritance of the father's wealth or business".

Being the first son, Akunnaya succeeded his father in managing his local conglomerates.

He went to school like other children but was required to spend the holidays no matter how short, in his father's shops, learning the tricks of trading, serving customers and handling special assignments or delivery for Oga, his dad.

As a student in trade apprenticeship, Akunnaya would report to his father's head boy or the oldest apprentice in his father's business. It was like another school.

Apprentices serve their masters for between 5-7 years and are settled or freed at the end of the agreed tenor by the master with goods and money which quantum is determined by how the master rates the stewardship of the apprentice being settled.

Chief Egoagwu ensured that all his sons, not only Akunnaya, his first son, passed through this tutelage even though many of them later decided to stick to their Law, Medicine and Engineering professions.

But, there is no escape for the first son who is expected to succeed the father in the business even though a father may pick a worthier son if the first one is deemed prodigal.

That was how Dr. Akunnaya dropped his stethoscope to take over his father's business after his mandatory housemanship as a medical doctor and National Youths Service.

Dr. Akunnaya grew his father's business into a conglomerate and a force to reckon with in trading, manufacturing and supply chains.

He was an example and a reference point for successful transition of business leadership in my town.

How Dr. Akunnaya arrived at his present crossroads should be a puzzle to him alone. That is what you get when you marry outside your cultural milieu. An Nnewi, Ideato, Ihiala or Idemili woman wouldn't have guided him out of lane.

But, he should have seen it coming very early in his marriage.

The wife wouldn't hear that her precious sons would be subjected to such an archaic internship or apprenticeship she referred to as child labour.

Co-mingling with nondescript apprentices was a "no-no" for her.

Madam Dumtufuo would rather take the children abroad during vacations no matter how short.

The children were required to write essays on how they spent their Winter, Autumn and Summer vacations upon resumption in their schools that ran only British and American curricula.

The excellent academic performance of his four sons must have beclouded the reasoning Dr. Akunnaya hence restraining him from implementing the time tested family traditional succession method.

Dr. Akunnaya's first son is a nuclear scientist working with American Space Agency; the second was called to New York Bar after graduating on top of his class from Yale University.

The third son is an aeronautic engineer recruited from Harvard University by Boeing, the world largest manufacturer of airplanes.

The fourth son and the last chose a life of a catholic priesthood and a religious for that matter. He took a vow of poverty in the order of Dominicans.

Dr. Akunnaya's two daughters are happily married with kids in England and Australia.

To parents in civil service or other professions and surprisingly to Madam Dumtufuo, being the parent of Dr. Akunnaya's type of children is a thing of great pride but it's a great sorrow to the ageing Dr. Akunnaya.

What would he tell his father in the land of the ancestors? Is it a tale of how he extinguished the candle light on the baton that was handed over to him?

Why did he allowed Dumtufuo, "nwanyi Mbaise" meaning "an Mbaise woman" of a wife to blindfold him into accepting something else as a goat food instead of the reliable method that had always worked for wealthy Nnewi men?

Dr. Akunnaya would not wait for the day to break before he headed to the Murtala Mohammad International Airport.

He had bought a ticket a day before.

He was going to America to meet with his first son. It would be a make or mar meeting.

The boy would choose between "ira Mbajiaku or ikwu udo" (i.e. devil and deep blue sea). Something must give.

He only told the wife about his decision to travel to America that very morning but kept the purpose of his trip to his chest. The wife didn't want to enquire further having noticed marked behavioral changes in a man she had married 32 years ago.

Dr. Akunnaya felt like praying as usual when his boarded KLM aircraft was about to taxi but he didn't know which god to pray to.

Was it to the god of Agwotulumbe, the native doctor, he had consulted to help afflict his son with "ike elo" meaning "restlessness" or the God of Elele where he camped for a week praying for the christian version of Agwotulumbe's "ike elo"?

Dr. Akunnaya, a knight of St. John, didn't regard his patronizing two different power sources as a sin but an attempt to attack a problem from more than one fronts.

That was why he kept saying "amen" to incantations of Agwotulumbe and the prayers of the priest at Elele Church.

"Amen", he understands means "so be it" and as such couldn't nullify any prayer or incantations.

Dr. Akunnaya knew his way around Washington. He knew that he would not be allowed to visit his son in his office in the NASA headquarters for security reasons as such visits are usually screened and approved by CIA in advance.

He just called his son to let him know that he was around and would like to meet with him.

Omaobinna Akunnaya PhD could only visit his father in his hotel in nearby Fairfax  Virginia the next day due to work schedules.

The father had refused to stay in his son's house as the discussion he intended to have with him was too delicate to be heard or eavesdropped by the daughter-in-law.

"Dad, Ichie Egoagwu, your dead father and my grandfather has been disturbing me every night asking me to return to Nigeria to go tend to his business", the son said after greeting his dad.

"I thought that it was a mere nightmare until it became consistent. He said that you failed to adhere to our family's tradition and that I needed to return home while you were still alive and learn how to run the business.

"Dad, please pardon my selfish manners. I should have started by first asking why the unplanned visit and also why you would choose to stay in the hotel instead of my house?" the son said apologetically but feeling relieved as a teenage heaping his worries on his dad.

"Leave my matter for now," the father enjoined, "just finish the story of your encounter with my dead father" Dr. Akunnaya said with his ears forming a funnel like that of a rabbit.

"Dad, the dream was monotonous but consistent until I decided not to renew my contract for another 5 years with NASA. In fact, next week shall be my last in that workplace.

"I have decided to do an MBA at Sanford University to horn my management skills before I return to Nigeria to help you manage the family business and I should think that you would support my decision even though I have not mentioned my resolve to my wife", the son ended.

Dr. Akunnaya didn't believe what he had just heard. He was equally confused on which spiritualist to thank for this good omen.

He just muttered "otito dili ndi anyi anaghi afu anya" meaning "glory to the invisible beings".

"My son, I had come to America to see a business partner who I learnt on arrival had died two earlier and I decided to use one stone to kill two birds.

"You don't need to take a student loan to pay for your MBA. The knowledge to be acquired is for the benefit of the business you are returning to manage. I shall transfer money to cover the fees to you and enough money to offset your mortgage loan. You will get more money if you sell your house free of mortgage in the USA.

"My son, we can now return to your house but I must leave in two days' time. I'm sure you know that sensitive discussions like this is not to be revealed to wives, I mean your mother and your wife, until you start implementation", the father said with a preacher's disposition.

Omaobinna Akunnaya PhD returned to take over the management of his family business four years before his father died.

Dr. Akunnaya died a fulfilled man without fear of recrimination from his own dad and would enter the land of his ancestors confidently and not as a value destroyer.

Many wealthy parents of today may not be that lucky.

They may well be the last rich men in their family lines as their children have become civil servants abroad.

The wise educate his children to improve not to abandon what is on the ground.