Within the region of Nigeria, there was a city, Lagos, and within it laid a small town, Sabo, which was filled with a large population and gorged with activities going on.
There was a young 16-year-old boy, Micheal, who lived there with his mother, Nkechi. Every day he would wake up to a sweet aroma of moin_moin_ A Nigerian delicacy made from ground beans. That seized the air.
He was barely 13 when his Dad kicked the bucket, leaving him with no option than to hustle for survival and become the breadwinner of the family. Micheal and his mother lived in a small single room in the heart of Sabo, where the smell of poverty was predominant.
As the sun was setting, Micheal walked back home from where he went to do manual jobs to make ends meet, he opened the front door of their apartment and walked into the kitchen, where he met his mother ecstatically singing and dancing to a gospel song by "Frank Edwards," while bent over a small kerosene stove cooking a Nigerian delicacy known as "Oha soup."
"Good evening, Mama," Micheal greeted while he sat down on the bed, counting the money he made from the day's work. "I made enough money today; it will be enough to buy a few cups of rice and garri for tomorrow."
Mama Micheal put on a weak smile—she was tired from the day's work—and said, "God bless the works of your hand, my son. Soon all our sufferings will be over."
Micheal nodded in affirmation, even though he had heard those words countless time's to believe them anymore. After their meal, he sat down scrolling through an old English book. Even though he was a dropout of school, he still read his book sometimes.
The following morning, as he strolled to the construction site where he worked, something caught his attention: a big poster advertising the Bet Naija Millions lottery ticket. It was a mind-blowing jackpot of two hundred million naira. Micheal smiled to himself.
"Imagine if I won this thing," he muttered to himself.
"Haba, Micheal, imagination wan kill you," a familiar voice teased in pidign language which translated to english as"Imagination want's to kill you.It was Tunde", his neighbourhood friend.
"Imaginations come to reality sometimes, my brother," Micheal replied while laughing. But as he walked back home that evening, he pondered on it.
Three days later, Micheal was able to gather one hundred naira and purchase the lottery ticket.
Four weeks later, Micheal went about his usual business on the streets of Sabo when he heard the reverberating sound of a melody coming out of a loudspeaker nearby. A van was parked, and a man in a grey suit was announcing the lottery results.
Micheal was in shock when he heard the numbers. They aligned with the ones in his ticket.
"It's this a dream?" He said aloud to himself, As his heart raced with sweat streaming down his supprised face as he held the ticket in his hands starring at it in disbelief.
"Micheal, wetin happen?" Tunde asked in pidgin language, it translated to english as "Micheal what happened."
"I think I won."
Tunde burst into laughter, but Micheal wasn't joking. His hands trembled as he walked with his ticket towards the man in the van, who scrutinized and collected it with a wide grin and said, "Congratulations, you are the lucky winner of our Bet Naija Millions lottery ticket."
Micheal and his mother were immediately taken to the lottery office, where they were given a cheque containing a whopping sum of two hundred million naira. Mama Micheal couldn't contain her tears of joy.
"My son, God has finally done it.", He has given listening ear's to our prayer's. She couldn't resist the tears that streamed down her plumpy cheeks as she tightened her grip on his hand's.
"Mama, This is just the first step to our greatness.", He said, As tears brimmed his eyes, almost breaking off " we will relocate from sabo to a much better place, i will complete my education and make you proud mama." He gave her warm hug as the scent of coconut butter on her hair made the hug even better.
With their wealth, he relocated to moderate sized yet decent apartment somewhere in a quiet residential area. Just as he promised, he returned to pursue a life... A life as a medical doctor
Micheal never forgot where he came from. He set up a foundation in Sabo which helped the less privileged so that others wouldn't have to go through what he went through in life as a young boy.
He wore a smile that has been absent for a long while over the course of his existence on his innocent looking face.