THE NIGERIAN GRADUATE AND LIFE AFTER SCHOOL IN HER COUNTRY

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 any graduate whom I have contact with. That also informed the concept of this piece you are reading.

  

As it was in the beginning, not so is it anymore

Education does not put money in your pocket. I know that’s controversial but it’s true. Going to school does not translate to having money. Education opens your mind and removes the veil from your face to see things more clearly, that only, and a little more I guess, is what education does to you. Not much more.

The days were when parents advised, “go to school, get good grades, graduate and get a good job, and live a good life.” Today, that advice is good but not great. Not many graduates get good jobs and live good lives anymore. Besides, people no longer just want to have good lives, they want more. I want more. People want to have great lives and live to the fullest of their potentials. The life called “average” is history.

The life beyond good however doesn’t just happen, it is created. You want a great life, you can have it, but you must work it. You must look beyond your certificate for the kind of life you desire to have. You must look up to God, and look inside within yourself. You must begin to mine the hitherto unexplored potentials that are within you. You must transcend mediocrity and indeed the limitation of the environment where you live to have that. You must not just go to school because of the job you might likely get as a graduate. You must have a bigger reason for going to school. You must be driven by vision. You must never-endingly be on the kaizen path. You must be ready to become you. You must engage the power of your imagination. 

Engaging the Power of Imagination

If I were to hire a graduate today, I would not hire any based on their experience alone. As a matter of fact, I will likely pay more for imagination than I will for experience. The wealth of a man’s experience can be quantified, it can be valued, it can be boxed, not so a man’s imagination. The mind’s capacity to reason is infinite. There is no end to the stretch of a man’s mind. The only limit available is that which the man places on himself. If man really wants to do anything, with God on his side, he can do it. Inventions and explorations over the years have shown that man has the capacity to conquer not only his immediate environment and outer space, but also the limits that may be around his own life.

And there are limits around here in Nigeria.

We have a country that is so blessed yet so poor. A country that should lend yet borrows. A country whose people should have no business with lack yet live in perpetual want; A country where more than 95% of her resources are in the hands of less than 2% of her people; A country that is in the news for every negative reason; A country where youths are blamed for the errors of the old; A country where more work sometimes mean less reward; A country with majority of the citizens hoping to have their chance of getting their slice of the pie; A country aging with less patriotism from her people; A country that could pass for a riddle; A country  where graduates, no matter how qualified stroll the streets for years without jobs; A country where myownisn (in the words of Bishop Hassan Kukah) gets you placement and merit gets you any other thing available, if available; A country called Nigeria.

But, if one chooses to focus on the limits of the moment, guess what he will see more of? Problems. The Nigerian graduate must begin to look beyond the problems of the country to live a meaningful life and make any kind of impact in it. Yes, there are problems, but that’s what we are created to solve. I imagine how boring life itself will be without problems. Whatever the challenges are that the graduate faces, they are not insurmountable. We only have to change gears. By the way, I am not talking about change in political leadership, I am talking about change in the mind of the one who wants to live a relevant life in the future.

Imagination does not only define the future, it delivers it. The Nigerian graduate that will be relevant in the future that he is walking into must hinge that relevance on his power of imagination. The firms that are ruling the economies of the world today and will continue to do so in the future, are not experience-only-based companies. Where was the dotcom industry in several decades ago? Where was the GSM revolution decades ago? Where was the social media several years ago? Where was virtual business practice and online retailing several years ago? Businesses that cannot cope with modern tools of business operation are not only going under, they are going with workers that are not able to switch.

People are paid more now for hard thoughts than they are paid for hard work. The graduate who will be relevant in the future is the one who can combine hard-work with hard-thoughts.

Experience is good, it has brought us this far, only imagination will take us further. We must come up with genuinely creative and innovative solution to perennial problems of our land and indeed of our lives. Creative-imaginative reasoning will be the reasoning standard for those who desire to live relevant in the future economy. The Nigerian graduate must think along these lines as he prepares for his future.

  

Imagination must lead to Enterprise

There will be no point engaging the mind if there will be no productive use of it. My focus in this piece is about the future that the Nigerian graduate is coming into. How will the Nigerian graduate survive in the future? That future can only be created by the graduate himself. So, rather than continually putting the hopes of that future in the hands of the government that is bereft of ideas on what to do about it, or private enterprises who are thinking rather of laying off some of the workers in their employ, the graduate has to think of merchandising his imagination, and delivering unto himself the kind of life he really wants to live.

Ideas must begin to be turned into businesses. Graduates must begin to think more of creating their own businesses rather than getting a job after youth service. This is not a question of choice, it is what you must do. The university student must start thinking of what business he will start after school, and the graduate must start the business he has been thinking about. Sure, there are challenges that will make it look impossible to start, but you can choose to see them as obstacles or as stepping stones.

One of the questions I am most often asked whenever I speak to youth groups about entrepreneurship and starting small businesses, is, “Where will I get the money to start?” and usually, my answer is “I don’t know”. The last time I checked, everyone is still looking for money. Me too. But, I also put a question across to them: “On one hand, If you find 100 people who have businesses of their own, and you ask them, ‘what is it that would have stopped you from starting this business?’ what do you think their answer will be? On the other hand, if you find 100 people who have not started their businesses and you ask them, ‘why have you not started anything for yourselves?’ what do you think their answer will be?” Your guess is as good as mine: “No money”. The first group started without money, the other group is still waiting for money. Good luck to the waiters, but that’s not the spirit of enterprise.

Conclusion

Not everyone will sure have a business in their lifetime, but I leave you with that choice. One of the most reliable ways to deliver the future, is to take it in one’s hands. Everyone whom you see succeeding today did not wait for the future to happen them, they happened to the future. I have studied the biographies of very many, maybe several hundreds of the world shakers and movers, the who’s who in whatever industry or country they are found, very few of them, maybe not more than 13% of those I’ve studied had wealth bequeathed to them by heritage. Most of them started from the scratch, without money, but they are the ones whose names open doors in the world today.

Have you created the future you desire to go into, or at least thought about creating it? Things don’t just happen, they are created. Create your own future today, and with God on your side, you will live in it.

Ola Barnabas is an Author, Public speaker, Consultant and Entrepreneur. Ola is an award winning prolific writer with about 7 published books and several published articles in various magazines. He appears on the Good Morning Nigeria Show on Fridays 7:30am on Cool FM Kano, and co-hosts the Option B radio show on Pyramid FM Kano airing on Sundays 7pm with repeat broadcasts on Tuesdays 5:30pm. He heralds a new Nigeria, and champions entrepreneurship and business ownership among youths. He speaks to tens of thousands of people across all divides every year and is a business and management trainer with over 10 years of experience. He leads Rayleads consulting and Sanjane publications. He lives to add value to lives and businesses. He is available for speaking, writing and consulting engagements at olabarnes@gmail.com or 08036490073.