“What does it mean to carry ajé well in today’s economy of visibility? The leadership question here should be: can my character sustain what I am building or flaunting?”
Ajé has never been morally neutral in Yorùbá thought. It is not something merely acquired; it is something to be carried. And how one carries ajé matters as much as how one acquires it.
If you have watched Arolake in Anikulapo, the Rise of the Sceptre, by Kunle Afolayan, the point about Ajé and moral economy becomes contextual and clear.
Older generations warned that ajé tí kò ní ìwà yóò tú — wealth that lacks character will scatter. Prosperity gained without restraint, fairness, or responsibility was believed to be unstable, even dangerous. Not because wealth itself is suspect, but because ajé is power, and power without moral grounding unravels.
In the market, reputation was currency. A trader’s word, fairness in measurement, patience in negotiation, and treatment of customers were all part of the moral economy that sustained ajé. When such trust is lost, it means more than losing money; it signals a loss of alignment with community, destiny, and order.
Ajé therefore thrives where balance is maintained. Little wonder that in indigenous markets, even after buyers haggle and no transaction occurs, conversations often end with, “ajé.” It is more than a polite closing, it is goodwill. It is an indication, an invocation, and a quiet prayer that prosperity finds you, even if not through me.
And when elders asked, “ṣé ajé ń wọgbá?” they were not only asking whether business was good. They were asking whether favour still flowed, whether relationships remained intact, whether order and moral balance were holding.
In this worldview, ajé is not isolated accumulation. It is more of relational vitality.
In an age where wealth is celebrated with little regard for conduct, and visibility expands much faster than virtue, we should ask: what happens when ajé outruns character? When accumulation outpaces formation? Or when influence grows but moral depth does not?
Yorùbá thought suggests that such ajé does not endure. It scatters – materially, relationally, even spiritually. Communities fracture, trust erodes, and prosperity becomes spectacle rather than stewardship.
The names of a popular young influencer and a pop musician in South-West Nigeria ring in my head as examples. Yet, this reflection is not about personalities but about patterns.
Ajé, untethered from ìwà, character, loses its centre. Perhaps, this is the deeper warning within the proverb.
So what does it mean to carry ajé well in today’s economy of visibility? The leadership question here should be: can my character sustain what I am building or flaunting?
Wealth must be carried well. Because, in the end, ajé is not only about what enters the hand but the sustainability of what remains in balance.
•Fúnké-Treasure is a thinker, strategist and communicator. She is the Convener of the Media Mentoring Initiative Documentary Fellowship for Students.
