After graduation, what next?
Having carefully observed reasons why graduates find it difficult to be employable in the labour market, it’s debatable to say most of our tertiary institutions more often than not prepare students for a ‘world that no longer exist’ simply because they fail on their part to revamp the ailing curriculum, which can be best describe as ‘obsolete’.
In the previous edition, we discussed fundamental reasons we should not wait for opportunities but rather harness the ingredients that can make us become ’employers of labour’ in spite of the challenges posed by the high rate of unemployment. This is not far fetched from the truth except we just keep deceiving ourselves.
It’s important to know that as a graduate after your graduation, ‘what next’ should be your topmost question. What do you plan to do after spending four to six years (if not prolonged by strike) in school? Do you really have a clear vision of what to do? Are your plans well outlined? Most of the times, the aforementioned become rhetoric in our minds because of the inability to ‘work the talk’.
Going forward, the university education prepares us for a theoretical world where we see ourselves as bosses in guise of making progress while languishing in pains as a result of ignorance of our leaders with little or no clear vision for the teeming population of youths.
Emphatically, the future of any country is the capacity of its youth as well as the level of commitment put into their development economically, socially and mentally. Ours is a situation where the youths are only empowered when it’s time for election and more often than not, they are being used as puppets in the hands of the city fathers. What a setback!
At this point, we must start to look at ways to improve ourselves positively and stop waiting for ‘one uncle’ or ‘big Alhaji’ somewhere to give us job that never exist. The truth is, there are no jobs anywhere except the ones you create for yourself. It is high time you reflect on next step to follow after graduation. Are you going to continue hunting for your dream job while you have all it takes to employ others? What is your strength? How can you harness your strength to become employer of labour? Nigerian graduates must begin to think out of the boxes and start exploring themselves in the positive limelight. Graduation is not the time for excessive euphoria; it is a time to brainstorm and it is never too late to start that now peradventure you missed the opportunity few years ago.
Conclusively, Nigerian graduates should as a matter of urgency address the issue of being too desperate to get a job as this has led many to their early graves. You would recall vividly I told us that it is not as easy as we think that one would get a job immediately after graduation because of the way the system is being structured in this part of the world but chances are that you can get employed as a job seeker if only you harness the opportunities right before you.
This is the best time we can prepare ourselves to meet the challenges of today. We have all it takes to make that change happen if we must achieve our desired goals. By doing so, I see a graduate with sense of dignity who will become reverence point for generation to come. You can make that happen!
– Arogbonlo Israel
