NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD.
On one of the numerous whattsapp chat groups I
belong to, someone posted lamentations about how he graduated since 2004, (he
did not state which university he graduated from or his degree classification,
not that it matters though) he claims to have tried everything possible but 'yet to secure a
living' as he puts it. So I advised him to learn a trade or acquire a new skill
to help him start a business and eventually become an employer of labour.
Unintentionally I had started an avalanche of similar opinion, advise and even
some chiding! Fifteen years of looking for a job is just wrong. Everyone cannot
work with NNPC or CBN! I met a young graduate lady roasting plantain (boli) for
a living, she had obviously applied her education and thereby enhanced the otherwise
'local' business. I noticed that the plantains were carefully selected, the
roasting pan was neat and tidy and customers were not allowed to touch the
plantains with their hands as is commonly done; she provided tongs for that
purpose. Her plantains were slightly more costly than that of her competitors but because of the added value, customers converged at her roasting stand and
the plantains flew off the rack! I was curious and so I asked her a few
questions about her business. She explained to me that she graduated from
university and after searching for a white collar job for a few years, she
decided to start a small business that did not require much capital. She
decided to start a plantain roasting enterprise which has now expanded to a
chain of four plantain roasting locations around Abuja. She explained that as
part of her market research before she commenced the business, she went round
to various plantain roasting stands to observe the operations in order to enable her
identify how she can add value and move the plantain roasting business to the
next level. I think she succeeded in doing just that. She makes an average
daily income of ten thousand Naira and she works 5 days a week. She told me of
her plans to diversify her business with other variants of the plantain such as
fried plantain chips; as part of her expansion and growth plans for the
business. I was quite impressed by the young lady, I purchased my lunch and
took my leave. I remain a regular customer till this day. The story of this
young lady is not peculiar, young people are really working hard and utilizing
their talents and skills to create employment for themselves. The entertainment
industry is booming right now and young people are driving that boom. The
mechanic who owns the garage where I maintain my car is yet another example, he
works hard and his service is much sought after. His workshop is always very busy.
He has deployed modern technology to assist and enhance his business. He is an
employer of labour who also trains many Apprentices in the motor mechanic trade. His business affords
him a good standard of living, his children go to good schools, he takes his
family abroad for vacations and he built his house in an affluent
neighbourhood. All these did not happen overnight, he built his business up
over time along with a reputation for competence and integrity. We have numerous graduates of our
universities and other young people who have gone abroad in chase of the ostensible
'greener pastures' a lot of them soon find out upon their arrival at the
countries of their destination that things are not as they seem. The only jobs
that await them are odd jobs, if they are lucky. Jobs they would have never
contemplated doing back home in Nigeria. They clean streets, train stations,
issue tickets to traffic violators, look after old and disabled people, they work
as security guards and taxi drivers in the many cities around the world. They basically
do the jobs that the locals do not want. A lot of them experience harrowing hardships
and discrimination as well. Currently going viral on the internet are heart
wrenching stories of young women who paid a lot to Agents to help them
secure jobs in some Arab countries and are being treated as slaves by their
employers. They seize their passports as soon as they arrive, they lock them up
in the house and beat them up at will and some of them also report that the men sexually abuse them. They have zero access to justice in most cases. Horror stories have also been told of some unfortunate economic migrants having
their organs harvested for transplant! Their families and loved ones back home
just never hear from them again. Some foolish young people are still travelling
by road to Morocco to attempt to cross the Mediterranean sea into Spain and
onward into Europe. Majority of them fail. A lot of the girls are raped and
impregnated along the way. Many lose their lives but the allure of escaping
Nigeria to live abroad keeps driving these misguided young people. While the
situation in Nigeria is appalling and seemingly hopeless to a lot of people,
voluntarily submitting oneself to slavery or even death abroad surely ought not
to be an option. I dare say there are a lot of opportunities for people who are
creative, hard working and not expecting to become millionaires overnight. Ultimately
the Government at all levels, need to overhaul the education system to equip
young people with skills that they need in the twenty first century, skills
that will give them the possibility to start their own businesses without the
disproportionate reliance on Government jobs. They also need to urgently create
a better enabling environment in which private enterprises can flourish and the brain drain to developed countries would stop.
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