EDITORIAL: Beyond Classroom, Nigerians Needs More Than Mere Degree to Solve Its Unemployment Crisis

In this fast-paced world, the blatant truth about Nigeria (Unemployment ) is that of all the various sectors, heralded with jobs that could be termed white collar in this country, there is an oversaturation of staff members.

People inside do not want to lose their job and the little job opportunities circulating either go to the highest bidders or appear bigger than your qualifications. In fact the situation mirrors what a writer described as the beautiful one still in heaven and the ugly ones not dying yet.

Just yesterday, a report said  over 573,000 applicants applied for jobs meant for less than 4,000 people. What is this telling us? Not all of us will eat from the governments’ coffers, not all of us have to wear suits and ties and go to offices which open in the morning and close by 5pm. Not all of us truly need this degree.

If Education is your own way of escaping penury in this Nigeria, then sorry you might be choosing wrong. The best is to get a high paying skill or learn to go the traditional way by tilling the ground.

After all, farmers are not poor. With the growth in technology, the already dire unemployment crisis in this country will further get precipitated by the evolution of artificial intelligence. Sad. 

It behooves one to assess why Nigerians like to talk about unemployment like it’s the government’s fault. In a country of over 200 million citizens, it will be the biggest hypocrisy to expect the government of the day to get everyone fixed merely because you are educated.

Most times, students find graduation fulfilling that one would think they often have money in store to pack after NYSC POP (passing out parade). However disappointment is obviously the result when you don’t want to get things done yourself. Like every other field of life, going to school should be a calculation. The same way we count what our harvest will be after a long day of tilling the ground—farming.

Come to think of it, who will be the ones to work as drivers, who will be the ones to farm what we eat, who will be the ones to work as factory workers? Who will style our clothes, make our shoes or even build our homes? These are jobs that have to be done. They are essential to human existence.

Just that the biases of an average Nigerian is crazy. An average Nigerian believes it’s unfortunate to work as a labourer or even work in a factory in this country, however we do the same, or even worse, in foreign countries because the pay is much. Rather than stick to the hem of the government for possible space in the arena, let’s strive for the regularization of the whole process.

On a final note, Nigerians need to bury the mentality that employment is the sole responsibility of the government. Looking beyond paperwork can save graduates from wandering around one sector to the other with a folder filled with CV at hand. It often helps us boost the country’s struggling economy.