Some days ago, someone here wrote a very beautiful piece on the superiority of access over talent and education as the main agent of success. On the face of it, he's right. But, believing he's right would not be seeing the full picture. While access is very important, there are

other factors that are superior to access and can create the same access for any individual. We will make some assumptions while treating this topic. The first assumption should be that the end goal of every struggle is wealth and sometimes fame. To believe that

Talent, skills, and education, are not as important as access to gaining wealth and fame and even access, is defeatist and people who take that view, are either creating alibi for their future failure, or giving themselves reasons, why they should not even attempt to try to

break out of their poverty cycle. I will use some examples to buttress my point.
Before I continue, let us also agree that there's truth in what is often said that, "behind every great wealth, lies a great crime". I will adjust this to "behind every great wealth, lies a great

crime, luck, or sheer determination and a talent for playing the long odds".
Example 1: When you read the biography of Obj, you'd see that he was a weak child who was not expected to amount to much. Fate and luck played their part, with his ability to utilize moments and today,

I don't think there's any access he or his kids cannot have. The key thing is, he didn't start with access.
Example two: Tompolo and Asari
These became rich due to an opportunity they saw in the Niger Delta and made use of. They did not start with access but with recourse to

Violence and activism, they have access.
The Rothschild Family you hear of today, their patriarch did not start with access.
Bottomline is, if you say because of the absence of access, you should not try to succeed, your failure becomes your own self fulfilling prophecy.

Like I told a soldier friend of mine who was berating his father for not succeeding in the army when he was in the same set with Obj and Co, I asked him if he wasn't in the same army now and if he's in the top of his own set in achievements and why isn't he working hard to

ensure that his own children do not point others out to him, when their time comes.
The basic truth is if you do not have access, work hard so your children can have the access you did not get and who knows, you might spend the later part of your life, having access.

If you do not come from a family of access, try to ensure that you create same access for those coming from you. Wealth, success and fame have a formula that is specific to individuals. It is why if you remove all of Dangote's wealth, he'd most likely get it back.

Let's stop giving ourselves 101 reasons why it's okay to fail.