Ok! So this is a picture of people struggling to submit applications for the 5000 jobs announced by the Rivers State Govt
Expectedly, a good number of those here are graduates. Graduates of many years without job
However, I understand how bad the govt is, but I want us to discuss our ourselves,not the govt whose failure is already known
Using myself as example, I did a 4yr Course and it’s been 10yrs after graduation, yet no job. Add the 4yes I spent in sch, I’ve been 14yrs without employment
Worst is that while in Sch, I didn’t acquire any skills, I had this belief that I was special and that somehow, I won’t be amongst the growing stat of Nigeria’s unemployed graduates. Guess what! I didn’t know exactly what gave me that impression but I stupidly believed it. Poor me!
Ofcourse we know the University isn’t as stressful as we were told, especially after year 1, so I didn’t use my free periods to do anything that would sustainably ensure my future economic standing if the expected job from the public or private sectors didn’t come
Years after graduation, I came to the reality there was nothing special about me, I was as ordinary as every other unemployed Nigerian graduate. It was then I began thinking of how to assist myself, how to learn skills, how to grow myself in a society with failed leadership. Yes, Nigeria has failed us, saying that is just like singing the National Anthem
So yes, I failed using my university years just the same way a few others would have failed too, but the challenge before us is that of ensuring those coming behind us do not fail themselves too.
Today, I’ve been forced back to the business I loved from childhood; Bakery. I have accepted the reality that I am a common Bread Seller who Bakes extraordinary Bread. This now defines my actions and inactions just the way it influences people’s perception of me. And yes, I’m not ashamed to be ordinary a Bread Seller
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The university period is an important phase of everyone’s life, it is the phase of taking decisions away from parental control, making choices, friends and building networks that can either make or mar our future
That said, here’s my advice based on my experience :
While in the University, have the mindset of an orphan without help on one hand, while having the dedication of a convict who can obtain pardon if he works well on the other
Like me, you must come to the full realization that there’s nothing special about you except you create one for yourself
Welcome to my mind!!!