What Next? is that question I couldn't just get out of my head after I got to see a friend some nights ago at night class (Study time for Nigerian University students).
He used to be this good looking guy, neat, fun to be with and also very intelligent but, who I saw has transitioned into a nerd, he has lost form, looking so unkempt, malnourished, and..........
I couldn't control tears rolling down my cheeks after he left to continue Reading.

I felt pity for who I saw and wished he wasn't who I used to know, I wished our educational system was better than it is, I wished life after so much stress, efforts and hard work wouldn't require another struggle to fit into the reality of the world outside the four walls of school, I wished we were still in the 80s

It was then a question struck my mind.
Photo Source
After 5years,
10 Semesters,
82 courses,
189 Credit units,
82 Exams,
Several Test, quizzes, and assignments
After Hours of lectures, reading and cramming....

It is of no doubt that many of us believe/believed in the lie we were told by our parents and guardian, the lie that was also passed down to them.

Go to sch, finish with good grades, and live the life of your dreams because JOBS will look for you.

I must submit to you that it used to be true I mean very true.
But that was when your hand must be able to cross over to reach your hear before you get to see the four walls of a school, that was when we had very few secondary school graduates and only 1 or 2 university graduates in selected communities, that was some generations ago before some of us became acquainted with the rising and the setting of the sun.
Then there were mouth watering jobs waiting for you with options to choose from, graduates were being sorted after and booked even before they get to their finals.

That was decades ago

Decades before most of us were born, decades ago when the population was less, decades ago when a thousand Naira could build a house with some change left, decades when governments parastatals still needed secretaries who could read and write, when governments was for the people.
But,

Those days are gone for good.

So it's high time we started thinking outside the box, it's high time we took our future into our hands, it's high time we held the government ransom and not let them kick us around, a lesson I learnt from @ejemai's answer to a question during the launching of Uyo's Steemit hub.
Photo Source

Many still think of getting jobs somewhere, somehow after graduation yet they don't know what they have to offer, or why they should be employed.

If you belong here, take a look at this analysis to get to know how many students graduate each year and how many were were there before you so you could get your thinking faculty to work.
There are 36 states in Nigeria with at least two batches distributed into two streams.
Stream 1 of each state can't be less than 1,500 that means stream one and two makes a total of 3,000. Multiplying 3000 by 36 states plus the FCT give 111,000 graduates who are manufactured, baked and distributed every year for batch A...Remember There are two batches So multiplying that figure by 2 gives 222,000 graduates for batch A and B annually.
To end this analysis, I must submit to you that from when you gain admission to when you graduates (lets say it takes a minimum of 4yrs), there are a minimum of 216,000 by 4 = 888,000 graduates before you and for the past 4 years I don't think there is any government parastatal that has employed up to 100,000 graduates even if there is, the only implication is that for the past 4 years, the number of unemployed graduates only reduced to 788,000 minimum because this analysis didn't take notes of polythecnic and college of education graduates

So wanting to get employed and not knowing why you should be employed is no good for you or the investment your parent must have put in and waiting to get its yield.

The problem is that many are being schooled and not being educated.
Here is what makes education different from schooling.
Let's say you are studying or you studied agricultural engineering, schooling will leave you with a certificate to go in search of jobs that don't exits but education will leave you with not just ideas but the relationships, skills and all that will help you create jobs.
Schooling will leave you competing with the eternal but education will leave you competing with the internal (yourself), it makes you want to be a better person for yourself and the community at large, it makes you see beyond the four walls of the school, beyond the archaic lectures and lecture notes being stucked into our head.

And the good news is that

It's never too late

Never to late to set things right or get things done.
Learning a skill is never to late or too early.
Many graduates are waisting at home waiting for employment from the government when they could learn a skill for as little as 6months and create jobs, many corpers are waisting a period of one year that could be invested (even if it is part time) into something that would lead to job creation after their service year, many undergraduates would rather stay back at home to eat mums food, sleep and waist precious time while they await Internship posting or service year.
As a mechanical/automobile engineer, learning a practical skill from a road side mechanic or from the internet for a month or two can set you above a large number of graduates like you......

Did you know that what you are doing can pave way for better opportunities not minding what you studied just like Ibukun A. Awosika who studied chemistry but now the chairman board of directors First bank Nigeria just because of her entrepreneurial skills as a carpenter

Make a choose

• Would you be the next upgraded Aliko Dangote or would you rather be the next downgraded first class graduate he once employed as a TRUCK DRIVER
• Would you create jobs or would you rather wait and struggle to get a JOB that will only make you Just Over Broke i.e just a little bit not broke????????.

Don't get me wrong

For those waiting for admission and those of us still in school, the idea should be finishing well and fit to face reality but not finishing foolish and stupid to get sunk in reality.
Here is what i learnt from a friend

When you read on a topic now, there will be a thousand more pages to read in the next 24hrs to keep you up-to- date on that topic because information improves exponentially. Therefore when you become too inclined with what is been taught in school all you know are facts and facts resides in the past.

End Note
There are a few jobs out there for those that knows their way around things
But
There are a thousand and one ideas waiting to explored by many that cares.

#OverAndOut......

If in anyway this article left you thinking, kindly reblog it to get it to someone who needs a rethink and a change of mindset .

Because

#IFoundPassion
#IFoundMyself
#IAmAStylist
#IAmAFashionDesigner
#IAmATailor.
#IAmWhoIAm
The future started yesterday and I'm already late.
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