“I want to be a Medical Doctor” my niece said, I went on to ask her little friends who also mentioned their dreams of becoming Engineers, Lawyers and Doctors. One of them actually said “I want to be a President” and the other boldly said he would like to be a pilot. This generation seems to even dream bigger.
All through your primary and secondary school phase, you have always had that dream job in mind and you just couldn’t wait to go into the university and then start your job. For some of us, we got lucky to study what we always dreamt of and most of us just made do with what was available. After several attempts at writing JAMB, you decide to just study anything else after all, it’s better than nothing.
Fast forward to the end of your National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), you are already having mixed feelings because you know the Nigeria labour market is not a child’s play. Some of your friends who have high profile relatives and parents already knew they would get good jobs in big companies but you knew your fate. You knew you had to hit the streets and submit your CV everywhere possible, you first go in search of the big companies because you feel you deserve better, of course, you graduated with a good result and clearly should be working in a mega company with a six figure salary.
Two months after your search for jobs, reality sets in and you conclude there is no job opportunity in Nigeria anymore. After getting so much rejections from the companies, some politely tell you “there is no vacancy”, some just rudely don’t even reply your mails or the CV on the table. Some companies request for people who have 3-5 years working experience, What happened to 0 year experience? Some friends and family members will be asking u, “how is work” when they know you obviously have none.
Worst still, there is a big Oga of the company who needs you to meet him in a hotel room first before giving you that job. At this point, ‘your eyes don see plenty’ but you still need a job!
The series of events and the plenty “No Vacancy” begins to get to you and you totally become depressed but you couldn’t afford to teach in one of those public schools that your Aunt was willing to help. How can you be earning a salary of 20,000 naira only? Don’t you deserve better? So you sit back at home and sulk even further.
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One day, you realised that you have had enough and decide to take up the teaching job but what could 20,000 naira a month possibly do for you? Your friends and family tell you “It’s better than earning nothing”. That is the phrase Nigerians use to console themselves when they have to use the last possible option left. So, you brace up and take the job with the hopes of getting something better later, with the hope that Nigeria will get better soon. You tell yourself “welcome to the labour market, this is only for a while.”
But after a year and some months of hearing the usual music “No Vacancy”, reality hits you and you finally agree that “the job is better than earning nothing.”
As you head to your place of work as a teacher, you overhear the secondary school students say excitingly “I want to be a Doctor in a big hospital”, the other one says “I am going to work in a very big oil company,” you smile and say to yourself “who is going to tell them that their dreams may not become a reality?” Not in Nigeria.
As I currently engage in the mandatory NYSC programme to satisfy all righteousness, my heart misses a beat each time I’m confronted with the soon-to-be-reality of joblessness. Will my dreams ever come true? Who will bell the cat, please?
