A cross section of graduating Nigerian students (file photo)
"I just want to finish with this school, go outside and get a good job settle down and move on with my life."
This was what a friend said some days back while we had a chat at
the “buka”. Abeg nor ask me wetin I go find for there! In this world
where there are scarcity of employment opportunities, I find it
absolutely repugnant and repulsive for one to think in this manner.
Thinking is free sha, but em.. you have to be realistic if you really
want to be a difference!
What my friend said actually led me to write this piece, on the
mistakes we made before we became a graduate and how you can avoid these
same mistakes, experience is the best teacher, though true, there are
lots of disadvantages learning from your experience; it is very
expensive.
It is always better to learn from other people’s experience, it
will save you from falling into a situation that will have a lifelong
trade mark on your life.
One of the mistakes we made before we became a graduate is not
working to earn a money, when we find ourselves relying on our parent
for support, they took care of virtually every aspect of our academic
endeavor, from the school fees, to our feeding allowance, wardrobe and
many others, all we knew was how to spend money.
This has put many of us in a difficult position to earn money after school.
I recently spoke with a female friend on where she would like to work after school and she said the embassy.
Just because she studied International Studies and Relations
automatically guarantees her a place at the embassy. If by the time you
graduate your dream job does not show up, what will be your next line of
action? Then you wish you have gotten principles on how to make money.
It’s not too late to start now, to be sincere with you, life begin the
moment you begin to assume responsibility for your actions, it is time
you take responsibility for yourself, your age should not be a barrier,
and you are not too young or too old to doing something financially
rewarding.
I have always been a critic of formal education without skill; it
is unfortunate that modern educational system is overrated in the world
especially in Nigeria.
According to statistics, almost all Nigerian homes today have
graduate, but I have also asked a basic question, how many home has
employed or employable graduate? Many folks want to be done with the
tertiary and go get employment, nobody wants to create job or even be
self sustainable.
A lot of person outside today have degrees but they are not
educated, education empowers you for success on every area of your life,
while Academics on the other hand focuses on certificates, we must make
a distinction between these two, the only way to make them work out is
to use you academics promote your education, and you can do this by
thinking outside the box. One great mistake many graduates made before
graduating was not thinking outside the box.
Now to the undergraduates; you must prepare yourself for world
without certificate, yes! I quite agree that we must strive to be the
best in school, accumulating good grades also does help, what happens if
the certificate cannot not fetch you your desirable job, what will you
do? You must prepare yourself for a plan B, when plan A fails, plan B
should not.
In other to avoid this, as you pursue your academic endeavor, also
acquire a vocational skill; we have a lot of them that can serve you a
means of earning a living while in school. For those who have graduated,
acquire a skill and you will be better for it.
Many have the conception that there is still enough time, I once
saw myself in this disposition too but there are consequences if you
think this way, and one of them is that you tend to live your life
carelessly, by the time you realize that you are no longer a baby, you
must have wasted a reasonable amount of your years doing nothing. You
have no reason not to start making money early in life; in fact it is
even more advantageous, it is better to be doing something than to do
nothing. Looking at the world we find ourselves, those making the real
cash are not those working with their certificates, I am very sure you
will agree with me on that.
Can I ask you a question? What services can you render that people
will have to pay for? Have you wondered to ask yourself that question?
To survive in this ever growing world, you must have something that
people will pay for, if you don’t have one, it’s time you try as much as
you can to provide services in exchange for money, the more the
services you are able to render, the richer you will become. Think about
it!
The first book I bought with my money was, How to get what you want
by Nido Quebein; New discoveries on how to reach your potential. I
bought that book for less than 3000 naira then in 2007, and since I
bought that book, I have not seen another copy elsewhere. My emphasis
here is that, many of us don’t have the habit of reading, a lot have
been said about hiding something from a black man in a book, as absurd
as it sounds, that is the truth, many find it difficult to buy books for
self development, I am not talking about the school books that you are
been forced to buy while you are in school, I am talking about
inspirational and motivational books that will enrich your mental
capacity, books that will develop you entrepreneurial skills, even
devotional sef e hard for some to buy!
We must learn to cultivate the habit of reading, readers make leaders. Try something new today and be above your peers.
It is very important we strive to reach our potential, we must
learn to always work to our optimum capacity, a lot of us are under
utilizing our gifts. Search yourself and work towards achieving
greatness.
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