Ola Barnabas

THE NIGERIAN GRADUATE AND LIFE AFTER SCHOOL IN HER COUNTRY Introduction When I got the call to write this piece, I really got thinking about what to write that will make an impact on young graduates who are venturing into the future, a future which some of them are least prepared for, in a country that has not succeeded in handling its own problems talk less of helping to plan for graduates’ future. Weeks later, I remembered an encounter a participant at one of my training sessions had, and shared with me. She had gone to an open market in Abuja to get some groceries and some other domestic needs, and she asked the wheelbarrow pusher to help load them on the car. The man did that, and as soon as he was paid, he gave the woman an envelope which contained some papers. They were his curriculum vitae (CV). I knew things are bad with unemployment in Nigeria, but I had no idea they are that bad. Then I made up my mind that I will help to make sure that is not the case of an

THE NIGERIA I HOPE FOR IN 2016 I have found among other things that one thing is common among most Nigerians. Even though there are few exceptions here and there, you will find generally that not many Nigerians will let you go scot-free if you decide to take on their country. No matter who we have become in the eyes of the world and how we have been painted, Nigerians are proud of their country. We all only want to wake up someday to find that the country we are so proud to defend, is also ready host us. We want to ascertain that this country will meet our needs with the very abundance that it has been blessed with. It is in accordance with this hope that we decided to vote out a government that we believe was not going to preserve the heritage that we so cherish only to empower another that lacks clue as to the realities of the economy nor indeed seem to know in which direction to steer the course of the ship of the country. I know I sound like broken record, but I know Ni