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In the last month I have moved from being a full-time employee in a media organisation to being an independent IT consultant. Last week I was in Abuja to meet with a politician looking for help to improve his web presence for his campaign. We had what appeared to be a fruitful discussion until the issue of remuneration came about.

Politician: How old are you?

, My first impulse was to ask him what my age had to do with the price of fish, but in my almost two years back home, I have discovered that you have to be almost subservient when dealing with an older person,

Chxta: I am thirty.
Politician: You are thirty and you are demanding this much money?
Chxta: With all due respect Sir, the price I am asking for is hardly up-market because you already have a functioning website. I am only going to revamp it for you.
Politician: But that price is too much.

, For the sake of clarity, the man wants his website revamped, then run until the elections are over, which essentially is four months of work,

Chxta: Sir, considering what you want, I think the price of (less than the equivalent of US$3 000) is not only fair, but actually quite cheap. I am only coming in at such a low price because I need to build up my profile before I can actually start charging market rates.
Politician: This boy, you have a lot to learn about life. You are too young to be handling that kind of money.

It was at that point that I shut down my tablet, and walked away.

There is no gainsaying that Nigerian employers almost as a rule do not pay staff well. While I was in Abuja, the announcement came that the Federal Government had approved N18,000 as the monthly minimum wage and people celebrated.

Now consider this: NGN18,000 at the current exchange rate is US$120. Take someone in Lagos who is earning that figure, and consider just his NEEDS, forget about his WANTS. Assuming the cheapest possible combo at the nearest Mama Put, he would spend nothing less than NGN100 per meal. Which translates to NGN300 a day for feeding alone, which in turn translates to NGN9,000 a month.

Let us assume that this NGN18,000 earner has decided to cut his coat according to his size, and accordingly is renting just a room in Ijesha. The going rates for such conveniences are NGN6,000 per month. That already totals to NGN15,000. We have not included the cost of transportation, and the cost of maintaining a partner (or casual sex if he does not have a partner). Then some of these people probably have children.

Also note that we assumed that his NGN18,000 earning was tax independent, which it is not!

Just feeding and shelter alone have cost the man 83% of his income. Leaving him savings of NGN3,000 (US$20) for an entire month to do other things. Then God-forbid, he falls sick,

The second thing that came out of this meeting of mine with the politician is our attitude towards young people. This man genuinely believed that because I have spent only three decades on this planet, that I should not handle a certain amount of money. I can almost bet that he would give his kids, who are no doubt younger than I am, much more without blinking if they wanted to throw a party.

The point however, is that as a country we waste our youth, and this waste starts from the day they finish secondary school. Up until that point, Nigeria generally follows the world's pattern of rounding off secondary education at the 16-18-age range. Then we insist that our children all go to the university. Rain check here, university education is not meant for everyone. What happens, is that the majority of Nigerian youths spend on the average two years waiting to get into the university, and that translates to two years of active life wasted.

So our youth gets into the university at age 20, for a four-year course, expecting to graduate at age 24.

Then the Academic Staff (ASUU) and the Federal Government have another altercation, and our friend has to spend a combined total of eighteen months at home. This raises his graduation age to 26. Finally he finishes his university education, and has to sit at home for anything from six months to one year before he goes to start jumping through ropes at the NYSC camp. This takes away one year of his life. He is finally done with NYSC at the ripe old age of 28!

This is the true average age of the unemployed graduate roaming our streets. Now consider the case in other, more advanced countries.

A child finishes secondary school at 18. In some countries he immediately goes for military service, in others he goes off to the university or starts working. His undergraduate studies last for three years, and by age 21 he is ready to be absorbed into the labour force: seven full years before his Nigerian counterpart.

Is there really more to add to this but the question: do you really need a university degree to work in an MTN Call Centre?

do you really need a university degree to work in an MTN Call Centre?

Off course not but i know some people will differ.

If you have a very good secondary school education you can work in any telecoms call center.



Your story above reminds me when i wanted to collect my mum's gratuity as she was dead.i had been running around to collect it for two years and it amounted to about 2.2million naira.

When the cheque was ready the woman who was about in her fifties looked at me and said 'am i not too young to handle this money' . I was 26 then

you are being a bit too optimistic about it all, the average age of final year students is 28 and that of those graduates roaming around in festac is 32

this is a very good article and it tells us everything about why we are still where we are.

Waeting my old age on NL.
Thank God I used my youth well.
My grand kids would thank me.

Your writeup really summarizes how things are and how they have worked to put us where we are as a nation.

PS:Why does one need a university degree to be a bank teller?

@OP
What happened here is product of the laws of economics under a given set of standards. Look at it like this:

1) [size=14pt]What is this politician's main goal?[/size] I'll tell you  - to get elected again in maybe 4 months. That is it - preserve his jumbo pay.
2) [size=14pt]What are his options for achieving this?[/size] Ah ah! There is a large set of options, including a website, buying an electoral officer, buy the electorate, do something useful for the voters so they remember him, buy the INEC commissioner, buy the police, etc.; I think you see where I am going, but let's not leave this hanging.
3) [size=14pt]What option or combination of options would he choose?[/size] You will agree that a website would not bring you many votes in today's Nigeria. It is probably one option to show that he is "modern", but not something to put his "faith" in for getting elected. Here you are, a "young" geek (just kidding), telling him to throw N450,000 at you for that website. It will never happen according to the laws of economics and the standards under which he operates. What I am saying if you don't realize it by now is that he could probably buy the INEC officer in charge of his political "corner" for less than $3,000, and win a landslide "selection". Why would he trust you with N450,000?

The system is rotten, the standards are rags, and the "best" options? - well we all know how that goes. I hope this provides a perspective on your experience.

Hmmm. Unfortunate.

lovely write up.
i get a lot of skepticism and i'm almost always underestimated because of my age, i then have to work twice as hard to prove myself.