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I always hear stuff like, 'There are no jobs in the country.' In the past, I would have agreed to this. Now, not so much. I think there are jobs in this country...they just might not be the ones you want or are worth.
You see, I used to be surrounded
by many people who are above 25 who did not think they should apply themselves and
work. They would sit all day at home doing nothing. They did not work, study, or
keep themselves abreast of news and development stories from across the world.
They spent almost all their time watching movies, goofing around or basically, wasting
away.
I remember one family that I used
to know. They had all been through various levels of education, but they stayed
at home rather than worked. The first daughter was different though. She would
wake up, cook, clean, cook, do laundry and whatever else she needed to do. Then
she would plait the hair of women and girls who came to visit her parents. She
worked, but it was mostly free labor. It meant all that energy was for almost
nothing. She was still dependent on her family for all her needs.
Her siblings on the other hand?
Pheww! They defined the term, ‘lazy’. They only seemed to watch television,
eat, and sleep.
When I lived with them in the
same compound, I used to wake up early, head off to work and sometimes, return
to the house very late. On one of my days off work, they were surprised to see
me at home at that time. We got chatting and they chastised me for being a
workaholic, saying they hoped I was paid lots of money. I laughed; I definitely
wasn’t. They then said, 'Don't stress
yourself oh'. For some reason, I remember being so mad at the statement. Don't stress myself?! Really?! I wanted
to retort that maybe they should stress
themselves, apply themselves to something more productive than sitting
around all day. But I stayed silent.
As if to force me into talking, they
went further to say they would only work hard when they expected to collect
allowances of not less than a hundred thousand Naira. At that point, I got up
and left. They had almost no value to add to any organization. They didn’t care
that they were older and should be planning out their futures. They were
content letting their parents fend for them: parents who were themselves old
and barely surviving on retirement checks. I was, to say the least, quite disappointed
with their entire outlook on life.
I remember my first job after I
graduated from school. The pay wasn't even enough to cover transport expenses,
so my dad had to take me halfway to work so that I could always have a little
money. I didn't need the job; my
needs were pretty simple at that point. But I needed the independence! I didn't
want to ask my dad for things like sanitary pads or new underwear. I didn't
want my parents buying me clothes when I was a full-grown university graduate.
And though the job was way beneath my pay grade, I took it and gave my best to
it.
I particularly want to address
religious leaders, as their parents were Pastors and Preachers. Many of you use
your ‘office’ as an excuse not to work. You ‘are doing full time ministry’ as
you say. In my opinion, your everyday life should be your full-time ministry…whatever
the faith you profess. That being said, get up and work! Write a book. Own a
business. Work in a company. Do something other than live off the tithes, gifts
and offerings of members who have decided to work. It is yours, no one argues
that, but your congregation will respect you more if you were as industrious as
they are. In fact, because leaders always lead by example, any religious leader
who doesn't work will have more unemployed people in the congregation than
employed ones. I know first-hand that any religious leader that works has over
90% of his flock being hardworking. It really is a simple formula.
We all need to work! It is not compulsory that it be a white-collar
job in that plush office and with that fat bank account. Only a small
percentage of the population will get those jobs anyway. Sometimes, taking a lower
paying job can present an opportunity for greater improvement. Plus, it beats
not having money and being dependent on people: especially if you are an adult.
Done ranting!
PS: This post is not to negate
the economic factors that make living (and working) in Nigeria really tasking;
because they are there. It is to address some of the entitlement of many young
people who are not willing to put in the work to improve their lives.
give dem work ad stop dowgrading dem
ReplyDeleteWow! I should give them work? Really?! SMH
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