Thoughts and Encounters Uncategorized: In this world you have no mate!

Welcome to this week's episode of Thoughts and Encounters Uncategorized. This week we have a very interesting write up.

It appears to me that many of us Nigerians have accepted some academic myths that we know to be wrong but we accept them anyway.

One of this myths is “it doesn’t matter what grade you graduate from university with its your contacts (connects) that get you employed”. Thats perplexing. while I’ll  admit that there is serious nepotism and corruption when it comes to employment in Nigeria. In fact when it comes to anything in Nigeria. However to go as far as saying it doesn’t matter what grade you graduate with, can’t be further from the truth.

Let me put it in numbers anyone can understand. In 2012 Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas NLNG wanted to employ entry level staff. The company wanted 115 people, 120,000 qualified candidates applied. Let that sink in for a while. It means there are 1000 people to 1 job. That means if you want to work for NLNG you are in direct competition with a minimum 999 people. Lets say of the 999, about 990 of them don’t have your contacts (leg). You are still in direct competition with 9 people all of whom most likely have the highest contacts possible. Of the 10 of you, how do you think “the one” will be selected?

Another Myth I want to debunk is the one that says “it doesn’t matter what course you study in university”. Yes! We have seen anthropologist work at The World Bank but what are the odds of that happening? You want to study Medicine someone tells to go ahead and study Economics because it doesn’t matter what you study in university and you believe. Have you gone to Zenith Bank to treat your malaria before?

Finally, the worst of the all, the one that irks my soul. Please after you read this, if anyone tells you this one. Please slap sense into their brain! “I don’t want my mates to leave me behind”. Wait! If I may ask? Who is your mate exactly? Let me agree for the sake of argument that your mate is someone in he same academic class as you, also the born in the same year as you were born, of the same socio-economical status as you. Is that all that makes them your mate? What if one of your so called “mates” has an estranged Grandfather who bequeaths him whit a large fortune at 25, are you still mates?  Also what if one of this your mates loses both parents and is left with no means of livelihood, are you still mates? By your definition i presume, you don’t want your mates to leave you because you have to be at par with them in everything. By that definition, in this world you have no mate! The paths of our lives are as different as our finger prints, each identical to none, each unique to one! Success is never truly attained and it’s never truly lost.

Let me share this personal experience my parents made me change schools after SS1. I hated this new school and I did everything to show my displeasure, I was even suspended once. When it was time to get promoted to SS3 (final year of secondary school), I was promoted on trail. My mum insisted that no child of her’s will get promoted to a WASSCE  (West Africa Senior Secondary Certification Examination) class on trial, that I must repeat. Obviously I didn’t take her seriously, I had been promoted and there was nothing she could do about it, I thought.

One day, a couple of days into the term my Mum and the school principal come to my class and in front of all my “mates” they demote me back to SS2. Oh! The many nights I thought of running away from the house, the many nights I wondered if this woman was actually my mother or the devil; sent her to torment my soul. Ultimately, there was nothing I could  do, so I bucked up. At the end of the year I was the best in my class.

Now here’s the twist, the set I got demoted from wrote WASSCE in 2004. The examination questions that year leaked and majority of the students who wrote the exams in my school results were seized. The ones who got their results  released failed scandalously. Only one student had gotten into university by June 2005 when I was writing my WASSCE. By September 2005 I was already in university. Oh how much I thank my mother for that day she demoted me. I still always point to it till this day as a turning point in my life.

Author: Ifeoluwa Osho