By the end of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) job, I was virtually on the staff of Harriman and Company, the leading indigenous firm of estate surveyors and valuers at the time. Hope Harriman, the Principal of the practice, did not fulfil his pledge to take over my practice and pay me a handsome sum thereof. He merely gave me a sum as compensation for handling the Shell job with minimum supervision and bluffed the commitment.
However, I knew that with his influence as President of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), I stood a good chance of advancing my professional status, so I overlooked the unfairness in his conduct. He showed me that business life was not all that straight. I learnt that there was quite a bit to expect from even professionals. I pleaded, however, for one of my loyal staff in Enugu, Timothy Okwuosa, and Harriman allowed me to bring him over to join his practice. I was pleased.
I occupied myself during that year and the one following, learning the profession with zest. I was at the office early and left late but for a short spell of one hour, which I took off to have lunch at Agip Petrol Station, Ikoyi, where a lady made irresistible fish soup and pounded yam meal. Harriman and Company’s head office was at 4-6 Oil Mill Street, Lagos Island. I commuted from Yaba to be on my desk before 8 a.m. daily.
Later that year, 1972, I was allowed the benefit of the Kombi bus I used for the survey for a while. Thereafter, I had the benefit of a Volkswagen Beetle from the pool. It was pleasant to be trusted with company assets and I knew I had to show maturity in the use of the vehicles. In a short while, I matured for a car loan. I got £1,500, with which I bought myself a brand new Toyota Corona saloon car with factory-fitted air-conditioner.
I write these details for posterity to measure the deterioration that has afflicted the Nigerian economic system as a result of our national poverty in leadership. As I write, the cost of a Toyota Corona now stands at about N2 million. This represents over 10,000 per cent depreciation in the value of our national currency. My salary was £1,500 per annum. With my pay, I was able to lease a little bungalow at the rear of a duplex at Onike, Yaba. Rent for the unit was half of my salary at first. I knew that I would grow into it as time went by. My little increment at the beginning of 1973 bore me out. I started enjoying myself as a top executive of an influential indigenous practice.
In fulfilment of my extensive and intensive search for truth in detention, Colonel Rudolf Trimnel, who I had met in prison, came to me and introduced me to a book called In the Light of Truth, The Grail Message by Abd Ru Shin. I was thoroughly taken in by the book. I read it quickly and appreciated the immense import of the book to my life. I thought that my life was complete with it. This was the third and most potent spring I had to drink from in my life. The training being in confinement had given me on discrimination was sharpened by this work. The positive tenets of life, which I had accepted were confirmed. A new meaning to everything without exception was given to life on earth. I knew I was being prepared for something at that stage of my life. Even if I had no role in creation and for humanity, I had a role to radiate joy and fulfilment in any endeavour I found myself. I was determined to build on that through the remaining part of my life. I was determined to engage myself in whatever gave me joy, caring little of what people thought about me.