I came across this.. Veteran Nigerian Actor, Pete Edochie's whose son Yul Edochie, recently took to his social media handle to thank his father for flogging him when he told his dad, while in JSS2, that his dad should open an electrical shop for him. In essence, he wanted to start up a business at a young age but his father locked him up and flogged him with a belt so as to "return his brain to factory settings". This implies that his father wanted him to be educated and not go into business, at least, at that age. One could ask why Yul Edochie would want his dad to start up a trade he did not learn.
When I was young, we were told in school that "Education is the key to a richer and more fulfilling life" so, I gave in my best so as to be educated. And having come from the Igbo extraction and from a family that values education, I could not afford not to be educated. After my secondary school, I did work for a man in Alaba International Market, Lagos but my real intention is to learn the electrical trade of the man. This is because, while writing JAMB examinations, my father would not allow me to go into trade by becoming an apprentice. But when I gained admission to the university, I left that trade.
I remember some of my school mates whose parents could not train in the university that opted for business. While I spent 5 years in the University, they spent those years under tutelage of their friends, or brothers that were businessmen and one went for an apprenticeship and by the time I was serving the Nation (NYSC), most of them have already started their own businesses. Two years after graduation, now the 8th year, I traveled to Lagos to visit family and friends and discovered that some of my friends have built houses, most drove expensive cars and few were married. At this time, I haven't gotten my first employment after school. 1year after that discovery, I got my first paid employment. Suffice it to say that I have gone back to business, after years savings I made while working in some firms and life is better. Sometimes, I make more than the monthly salaries I made in a former place of work IN ONE DAY profit from sales.
Except your families are rich, connected or politicians, you may not get a 'good' job. Go to Lagos and Abuja, for example, most graduates are paid between N30,000 to N80,000, few earn above N80,000 and very few earn above 150,000. From the same meagre salary, they may spend N12,000 to N15,000 monthly on transportation, what of feeding, clothing and sending some money to parents? You see that a cycle of poverty is created by the system, a decayed system in Nigeria. I am going to concentrate on salary earners in the private sector in this post for obvious reasons.
My neighbour who is a retired Civil Servant told me how graduates were employed by the government and were given official houses and official cars in the 1970s to 1980s, free air travel tickets and other fringe benefits but all that are not obtainable today. Not only is the Naira less valuable today, standard of living and government found it hard to increase the minimum wage, from N18,000 to N30,000 (which is one of the lowest minimum wages in the world). All these do not concern workers in the private sector, who are at the mercies of their employers; and politicians, whose wages and emoluments are hyper inflated.
I am not saying that education is bad altogether or one can not live a comfortable life when educated, after all, fortune can smile at anyone, but side-by-side, businessmen and women live more comfortable than workers. For those in the private or public sector, you know that you can not be richer than your employer, as you are paid what you are "worth" (which the employer determines most of the time). To buttress my point, look at the average garri seller in your local market, he or she may be poor but can make profit more than the average salary of a graduate in a month. You must have seen graduates who take to social media platforms to praise their parents who trained them from petty trades, like akara business, bricklayer, carpentery, auto technician (mechanic) and so on. Now, how many of those salary earners can train 1,2,3 or more children with their meagre salary?
[b]We all know that Igbos, especially Anambrianians are mostly businessmen and that is why they are rich. Without sentiment, Igbos came out of the civil war poor and 20 pounds was purportedly given to those whose bank accounts were frozen by Nigeria. But go to the formerly war battered land of Eastern Nigeria, you will see a lot of modern buildings and even privately built roads and other infrastructures, with one of the highest population densities in Nigeria. Most Igbos, mostly Anambrianians, are millionaires today and you may ask, what is the secret? BUSINESS APPRENTICESHIP (which is an education on its own right and your secular school can not teach you this) is the answer. They have the highest number of millionnaires per area, especially Nnewi people. While South Westerners and some South Eastern States in embraced education, Anambranians embraced business. The formular is simple, a man from Nnewi learns a trade from a fellow Nnewi man and with time, he is settled and becomes a Boss and employs other apprentices and the cycle continues. With time, many family are lifted out of poverty.[/b]
I am not saying that other Nigerians are not rich but check them, they are businessmen and women: the Folawiyos, Madam Alakija, Wale Adenuga. Dangote, Dantata and so on are rich people who made their monies through business. Show me how many graduates that are not into business that are rich and I will tell you that what they are doing is business and if they are not into business, they must be very few.
These days, having a B.SC is like having an SSCE result and in economics, we know that when supply outstrips demand, price (value) decreases. Except you are in the medical field or have another skill like coding, digital marketing, UI/UX design, database development/management and so on, working with a OND/HND/B.SC certificate may get you a job to put 'body and soul together'.
In conclusion, Business is not for everybody and education is not for everybody (but try to get it) too. To some, they are better adapted to working for people or may not have the capital or skill set to start their business. Bill Gates, Dangote, Elon Musk and so on, are examples of rich people who didnt become rich as a result of going to school. You can work in firms for few years and try your best to save up and start your business but try to do your home work because you may invest in the wrong business or run it aground because of poor knowledge and skills you have to handle the business. Education is good too as you may need the knowledge you acquired to be a better business man or businesswoman or become a Civil Servant or Government Official/Politician someday and that is why I do not rule out education. If not for the lack of patience, agriculture is a business that can fetch you cool money but youths of these days want to drive Mercedes Benz without wanting to put in the commensurate work needed to enjoy the kind of lives they want.
What do you think? >> SOURCElalasticlala, dominique, mynd44, ishilove, Seun |
But that is stealing. These days, even people with ATM receipt certificate use the pen to steal. I no call name o.
