Sylva Ifedigbo
For thousands of Nigerian graduates who are currently on the National Youth Service scheme especially those who are close to their passing out date, the Season of Manna is about to cease. In a couple of months, they would pass out of the mandatory one year scheme and the world would begin to assume a whole new meaning to them.
Suffices to state that a great majority of these young men and women are simply not prepared for what is about to happen. Many are scared and full of anxiety because of this agonizing fear of the unknown that comes with passing out of service into unemployment. As meager as the allowance they currently receive is, the prospects of living without it for one…two…three months or even a year or years, makes ‘tomorrow’ a difficult thing to think about.
More than the loss of the meager NYSC allowance is the loss of pocket money from parents and an increased demand from family and society. So it is not surprising that the most popular issue of discourse among the corp members is ‘jobs’.
A fraction-a really negligible fraction- would be lucky enough to be retained at their place of Service. An even more negligible fraction already have jobs waiting for them, but for the larger multitude, there is simply nothing yet to hold onto. And this is not because they have not been working hard enough, – trust me, Nigerian graduates especially Corp members are probably the best job hunter under the sun,- but because the jobs are simply not there.
Vacancy announcement after announcement, resume submission after submission both in hard copy and on the internet, seminar after seminar, hours and hours of preparation including cramming of the popular G-MAT text, endless hours on job sites on the web, piles and piles of newspapers especially Tuesday and Thursday Guardian, interviews after interview including those gate crashed into, prayers, fasting and tithe payment…all that effort and yet few months to the end of service and no job yet.
It is easy for people who have jobs and are comfortable or who a combination of dubiousness and luck has placed in certain positions, to sit around and say things like “Graduates should not look for jobs but should rather create jobs”. Such persons simply do not appreciate the predicament the Nigerian graduate finds himself in.
Just incase a reminder is necessary, these graduating Corp members where born into country where nothing works, went through an education system that ill prepared them for life, they had little or no guidance or mentorship not to mention the none existence of role models. Many of these youngsters studied courses they had no business studying and wait for this, they have the combined hard luck of having been born into a country that has no plans whatsoever for them, where they are on their own and the best of their effort might not be enough to lead them out of the poverty threshold except if of course they seek for short cuts.
Eager to pass out they are especially given that some have had to endure the most de-humanizing conditions of living including constant threats to their security in foreign regions of the country for the past one year, but the same fate awaits all no matter where they might have served. Even those who have wonderful ideas and talents that can empower themselves and by implication help to power our oil dependent economy can not express them or put more appropriately, the system doesn’t consider their ideas worthwhile and so has not made any plans of supporting it.
Perhaps the most agonizing aspect of the whole issue is that you return home to find friends, neighbours and siblings who served several years before you still jobless and it becomes apparent to you that you’ve just retuned to add to the pool, and it will take a combination of doggedness, resilience and a great deal of luck to walk out of that pool and be that person you dream of being.
Someone once said “I will study and wait, and the opportunity will come”. This statement doesn’t seem true for us in Nigeria and certainly for this set of graduating Corp members who had “studied”, the “wait” might as well be forever.
It feels easy-sort of- to speak about it now but a few years ago when I was in the same position, it was a thorny issue on my mind. Bottom line is to be prepared. Have a plan no matter how uncertain. Be optimistic. Above all be positive. With some luck, doors shall open up for you as it has for many before you.
