‘’I just want to finish with this school, go outside and get a good job
settle down and move on with my life.” 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!
... Ts not a thing of shame we are wired tat way 
