I recently had a conversation with a well-traveled Nigerian who narrated a story about a rich-parented Nigerian who was caught cheating during an examination abroad. He ended the story by saying the moral of his narrative was that the children of the rich are often unserious in their pursuits in life. The more I thought about his conclusion the more I agreed less with him. I thought about Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Aliko Dangote and my agreement became shakier. Davido and Burna Boy came to mind, and I found myself totally disagreeing with the moral of his story. The above-mentioned individuals came from homes that could be described at worst to be middle class, which in many cases is equivalent to semi-rich. Whenever I see and hear people glorifying ghetto life and upbringing, I often conclude that they are trying to motivate themselves at best and are ignorantly ignoring the many disadvantages of poverty.

The rags to riches story is very motivating and entertaining. However, the realities of poverty are better read than lived. The controversy surrounding Davido’s recent interviews brought some details to life. The interview among other things revealed the fact that Davido’s father built a state-of-the-art recording studio for Davido that the likes of Wizkid and Dbanj patronized. It was also rumored that his dad influenced the creation of a music department at Davido’s alma mater before he was admitted into the same department. With these revelations, you begin to see some of the secrets of Davido’s extraordinary success as a musician. It also brings to the fore the fact that children benefit immensely from the opportunities their parent’s wealth provides. With this in mind, parents and prospective parents should do all legitimately to create a soft landing for their children.

According to Carmat.ng, Davido’s father – Adedeji Tajudeen Adeleke was born on the 6th of March 1957 to Mr. Raji Ayoola and Mrs. Esther Nnenna Adeleke in Enugu State. He attended Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School from 1965 to 1970, and Seventh-Day Adventist Grammar School in Osun State for his Secondary School Education. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Western Kentucky University, Kentucky, USA in 1976 and bagged an MBA in 1981. He then got a Ph.D. at Pacific Columbia University, California in International Business. He got married to Veronica Imade (Davido’s mother), who passed away at the age of 39 years in 2003. He founded Pacific Holdings through Pacific Drilling Company Limited, which specializes in geographical surveys, water treatment, and drilling of boreholes. Pacific Holdings is now into energy and power generation and freight services. He is the Pro-Chancellor and owner of Adeleke University. The moral of this story is that the rich also give birth to serious and focused children especially when they are doing their job as a parent.

Ata Ukuta – Editor, Towncryyers