A letter to undergraduates in Nigeria- Olatunde Ajibola

A heart of truthfulness i put down this piece to all undergraduates in Nigeria giving them the reasons to think in a different dimension compared to the normal curriculum.

It has been a normal way of life to finish from secondary school with a good/average/poor result then UTME, get admission, and finish with different classes of degree then after NYSC, job hunting begins. For some job comes a year after serving their father’s land and some till about 5 years or more which leads to the acceptance of any kind of available job just for the purpose of survival.

Now, my point is this, with the same trend of occurrence for years, why can’t there be a change of thought? the university ground is an independent environment where an individual can make/mar his or her future and there are numerous opportunities untapped in the same environment. 

A student should be conscious of the fact that NYSC has three (3) batches in a year and each batches also have streams. For example, each state do have three thousand (3000) core members per batch i.e. in a year every state do produce 9000 corpers which means 9000 multiplied by 36 will give a total of 324,000 corpers minimum in Nigeria every year. The question you and I would ask ourselves is which companies are they going into or how many companies are really functioning well or existing in Nigeria to cover for all of them? This is the major reason why companies make graduates pass through ambiguous stages of interview coupled with unimaginable take home pay just to cut down people. I remember when I was called for an interview at a bank in Nigeria (2015), I was told after series of test that I would be offered thirty thousand naira (N30, 000) monthly on the condition that as a marketer I would meet up with a target of three million naira monthly. 

I just smiled and left immediately because I had a business in place already which is better than such but an individual which no other hope anywhere and pile of responsibilities on the list would have no choice than to take it then might leave after first or second month of not meeting up.

Despite all these issues, solutions are in the hands of everyone out there but basically for undergraduates, you can start something while in school. Learn a trade, hair dressing, fashion designing, graphic design, barbing, baking etc. We have great individuals who are making real money today without using what they studied in school e.g. MOJI CEO (mojidelano.com) a former lawyer, Linda Ikeji (Lindaikejisblog.com), Oluyomi Ojo (Printivo.com),  etc. They all started very small but are well recognized today which means you really need to think out of the norm instead of carrying CV all around like everyone. 

Business do take some time but you will be saved lots of time when you start from your school days coupled with lots of experiences and remember your friends, room mates and course mates will be your first customers to advertise you. 

Think of the following

1.      What do I love to do and will like to do?

2.      What extra can I do at school?

3.      How can I get extra income?  

Please be rest assured that this will not affect your academics in any way when you take it as an additional 4 unit course and it is not everyone that wants to become full time entrepreneurs but be rest assured that this can bring you some income before that good job will come in.

Points to hold unto

1.      Do not wait till you are done with school before asking yourself what’s next

2.      Get every skill you need now while in school because you might not know which will save you later

3.      Always pray to God because he never fails.

Feel free to drop your comment or opinion below.

                                                                                                   Yours Faithfully

                                                                                                   JBSRECORD.