The Nigerian Graduate And An Uncertain Future

A young writer may very well keep quiet on many things, but never a
subject of immense importance such as the Nigerian graduates and the
future that awaits them. A writer that closes his heart to this may as
well not be considered a writer, after all, if anything is worth a
writer sympathy it will be the hope and redemption of his country
which, in the case of the Giants of Africa, is being shouldered on his
fresh educated young minds: the Nigerian graduates.
Every Nigerian youth without any ado will among favourite primary
school memories have as favourite songs these favourite lines
proclaiming confidence and efficacy:

"Parents, listen to your children.
They are the leaders of tomorrow.
Try to pay our school fees.
And give us sound education."

Of course scholars from the 70's will still have the courage and
boldness to echo these lines aloud to themselves, having the credence
of returning rewards for long years of continuous efforts in a
comfortable and endurable atmosphere of consistent perseverance. Their
parents one may be very sure will have as well the privilege of
excusing their forks and fingers from the meal of unfruitful
investments which, speaking of, has turned out to be the order of the
day when it comes to the Nigerian graduates of our days beating their
chests about tomorrow and saying: "Education, my friend, is still the
best legacy."
Perhaps by emphasizing this, our "Lead-ass" of today may have a tint
of compassion for the future of Nigeria, which in another words is the
future of each Nigerian graduates that passes through the Nigeria
education system.

A FUTURE OF COMPLETE JOBLESSNESS
The Nigeria unemployment rate if facts are right increased from a
bearable 10.4% to an unbearable 14.2% in the last quarter of 2016,
leaving the country with the record of highest history of joblessness
since 2009. For a Nigerian youth that never sets his foot in a
tertiary institution this development may mean nothing, but for a
Nigerian youth that actually went through the Nigeria education
system, this will mean everything. The Nigeria education system is
structured in such a way that makes life ironically easier. Rows of
lectures in limited congested lecture theatres, academic environment
starved of basic social amenities, limited access to the internet, and
rows of sadistic elements of frustration christened as lectures. A
typical Nigerian graduate has had the honour of going to bed on empty
stomachs, sleepless nights for trashy grades, unwarranted mental
harassment on the part of lecturers, and abuse of power on the part of
authorities. Enduring all these to be welcomed into a new special kind
of job hunting is a thing too much for a compensation. After all the
four, five, six years of hard work with nothing in hand but a
certificate equating another piece of creative graphic design is
enough of a frustration. With the increased unemployment rate for age
range of 15-24 years (the age bracket of most fresh Nigerian
graduates) by 25.2%, complete frustration is the only thing the future
holds for a larger percentage of the Nigerian graduates.

A TEMPTING FUTURE
Needs sometimes overrides the norm, and necessities compel us to do
the unthinkable. While a typical Nigerian is cut out from the heart of
steel, still, there is a limit to what the mind can take. A jobless
Nigerian graduate as expected is daily subjected to a list of
insurmountable internal and external pressure, reproach, taunts, and
temptations. So unfortunately so the
quicker-less-stressful-one-thousand-and-one available ways of buying
one way out of the frustration that comes with an endless hunt and
search for a job that is not available. If facts are anything to go
buy, Nigeria currently ranks 3rd in cyber crimes in the world. In
addition to this distinguished achievement, she also bags a first
class honours in drug trafficking to the most dreadful countries in
the world. Fraud and theft is MTN. And the day may as well be as
dangerous as the night due to the numbers of sophisticated weapons of
destruction operated during the day by arm robbers. A jobless Nigerian
graduate in the midst of all these may in time have none but only one
available option, considering how successful and untouched these
people are.

A FUTURE OF NEW LEGACIES
Education is the best legacy, this may very well lose its relevance
with time. What is best is certainly advantageous, and what is
advantageous is beneficial. With the sticky trend of no Ph.D. no job,
education may as well lose its advantage in the minds of the jobless
Nigerian graduates who soon, will in time have sons and daughters to
entrust a legacy to. It won't seem unlikely that a onetime jobless
Nigerian graduate who by hustle and struggle acquire relevant
independent skills won't entrust a legacy of skills acquisition to his
children. As well, a Nigerian graduate who transcends the realm of
existence into the realm of living through musical talents will
instead of another rows of wasted years in universities rather invest
his time and wealth into the realization and actualization of whatever
talents his children may have. A drug trafficker though unlikely may
entrust the same legacy to his children, but the possibility still
cannot be erased. The implication is we may have a generation of
youths singing:

"Children, listen to your parents.
They are the victims of the past.
Don't stake too high on schooling.
For education is nothing but a scam."

The future that awaits the Nigerian graduates doesn't seem to look
promising. Some will prefer the word gloomy . While there may be at
present no light at the end of the tunnel, there exist still a hope of
getting things right. Not just for the jobless Nigerian graduates, but
for the future of the Nigeria country. Because, whether it is agreed
or not, the cancer today was once a good cell. If the cell was well
taken care of there might be nothing as a cancer. If our lead-ass stop
being a lead-ass and start being leaders, the aforesaid may as well be
a tomorrow that will never come.

CREDITS: OLUSANYA OLALEYE