“We cannot gloss over facts and expect problems
to solve themselves.” –Ahmadu Bello.

The fact staring us in the face in this country is
that a large percentage of our citizens are
unemployed and looking for non-existent jobs.
Another sad fact staring us in the face is that no
nation can rise to economic greatness where able
bodied citizens are idle and doing nothing. And the
saddest of all the facts is that we will never get out
of this mess with how the system works.

We have a system that churn out graduates who
don’t know jack about starting a business or
creating value. They come out brandishing a piece
of paper called a certificate expecting a job from
the government and everyone; they have this
attitude of “expectational arrogance”. They are
graduates, they have finished their NYSC, and so
somebody must owe them a job.

How sad!

Most Nigerians never think of creating a job and
employing others. They don’t believe in further
training or acquiring a new skill that will help them
start out on their own. For them once they are
done with formal schooling they deserve a job.

Well, maybe they do deserve a job, but the best
way to get a job in Nigeria is to create one. Even
those doing some sort of business are never
satisfied until they get a “job”. I met a cab driver
in Abuja who makes more money than a bank
teller monthly but he was still begging for a job.
As far as he is concerned he must wake up every
morning and go to a place called a “job” before he
is satisfied. This is our general attitude with just a
few exceptions.

Granted that our educational system doesn’t
prepare us to be entrepreneurs, but once we are
out of school we ought to take responsibility for
our thoughts and our actions. The system
prepares you to be broke but your attitude will
keep you broke.

Take charge of your attitude. Attend a training, hone your talents, acquire a skill, get business mentoring and start out on your own.

It is really sad to see Nigerians work for years in a
bank without learning how to start and run a bank,
this also goes for those working in hotels, schools,
NGOs, etc. what matters to them is to take
peanuts home every month.

While I was working as the Programs Manager of a
top NGO in Nigeria I noticed that my secretary
never bothered understanding all the concept
notes and proposals I was giving her to type, she
didn’t bother to inquire how we raised money and
engaged our donors, she didn’t bother to know
how we executed and evaluated projects. When I
asked her why, she said it didn’t occur to her. But
she didn’t change. One day when I couldn’t take it
any longer I fired her. I don’t like such folks
around me, they poison my work atmosphere.

One of the best ways to measure this attitude of
Nigerians is on social media, especially Facebook.
You can try it. Write anything about business or a
business training, you will get no comments, no
questions and just a couple of “likes”. Nigerian
youths hardly engage you on any post that has to
do with entrepreneurship. They don’t want to
create value, they don’t want to learn anything
about starting a business. They want someone to
give them a job, job, job, job…

Do another test. Just post about a job opening
anywhere even in a Filling Station and see the
number of comments and inbox messages you will
get. Infact the easiest way to scam a Nigerian is to
tell him about a job offer. Nigerians spend more
money in bribes trying to get a job than they
spend in acquiring skills and knowledge needed to
start and run a profitable business. You will see 1
million Nigerians applying for just 10 spots in a
company and it beats me hollow to imagine that
none of those Nigerians are thinking about starting
a company like the one they are applying to.
Rather they will give you a thousand reasons why
they can’t do it, forgetting that the company they
are applying to succeeded inspite of those
reasons.

Nigerians also love fast money. I also like to make
fast money but it’s just that most avenues
promoted online for this fast money making are
fake. Have you seen this craze about “click on this
link, register and share with your friends and make
$100 daily for doing nothing! Click now”? And you
will see graduates clicking and sharing it on their
wall. If you share a link about a training or a
course on how to acquire a skill to start a
business those same folks will not click it.

Nigerians also love magic and miracles. Just post
a picture of a top man of God like Enoch Adeboye
or David Oyedepo and write a short post like this:
“I declare that all the witches in your village
preventing you from getting a job will die by fire
before Monday next week. Click ‘Like’ and type
‘Amen’ to claim it!” I bet you my laptop you will
get nothing less than 1000 ‘likes’ and comments.

But if you write an article about business, my
brother nobody go answer you o. They want magic
not education. Personally I’m still looking for that
Bible verse that say you must type ‘Amen’ on a
Facebook post to get a job or be blessed.

I call on all young Nigerians to break this jinx upon
our generation, this jinx placed on us by culture
and our educational system. Let’s break this
vicious circle of poverty. Let’s change our attitude
and watch our lives change. Change your
perspective, be open to new knowledge and
insights, attend trainings, get a mentor, and
transform your talents and skills into businesses.
Let’s change our story and that of Nigeria and
Africa.

The future depend on you.

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HawksDude:
No form of formatting in the post. Cant read it.

well formatted now