Date Published: 09/02/09
It’s a 50k job so I went for it!
By Joshua Ocheja jocheja@yahoo.com
Please listen attentively to what I have to say, I promise not to bore you with sociological theories as the case maybe.
This is a story that tells the untold hardship youths of this great country encounter in job hunting exercises all in the quest to make life meaningful.
I graduated over five years ago did my imposed youth service, brimming and bustling with life as I was pretty content with my “alawi” and I served at my primary place of assignment with dedication.
Five years down the road, my face has become a trade mark at every job aptitude test center. I graduated with a second class upper degree, and funny as it seems, I have never been certified fit to proceed to the next stage of interviews in most cases, but the closest I got was a 50k job so I went for it.
I was busy soliloquizing to myself when my phone rang. Quickly I glanced at the screen at close range because the screen has gone bad, it was an unknown number. Whilst I hesitated for a while, I eventually picked. The syrupiness of the voice I heard reminded me of the beautiful princess of Wales.
I quickly composed myself and the conversation went thus: I will like to invite you for an interview at our corporate head office by 9am on Tuesday. Thank you. Thank you I asked rhetorically, yes the lady said, and I said ok and hung up. I was filled with mixed feelings as I could not place the rationale for the “thank you”. It sounded awkward as I have been used and adjusted to derogatory words in the course of my job hunt, hence my being skeptical at the chivalrous gesture of my caller.
I concluded within myself that the miracle I have been waiting for has finally come. Quickly I rushed to Mallam shehu outside and bought a stick of cigarette, as I puffed away I reminisced upon the long struggles I have encountered in my quest for a job. It has been a case of near luck instances and in majority nearly killing a bird, “but nearly cannot kill a bird as they will say”
As I was puffing the cigarette I kept reminding myself I did not need to fill my lungs with smoke in an attempt to forget my sorrows, but I found it extremely difficult to let go the habit, a habit am not proud of in all ramification.
I embraced cigarette, when it seemed my world had crashed immediately I was told I could not proceed for the next stage in a bank interview I attended. Somehow cigarette only gave me respite for a few seconds and I return to my thinking ways almost immediately, and I strongly believe that lots of my comrades in the struggle have embraced drugs higher than cigarette out of sheer frustration.
Ijeoma my neighbor was not left out of this struggle as we have always been interview mates. On one sunny afternoon, Ijeoma walked into my room, sat down and looked at me straight into the eyes and immediately I got the message, we were busy on the floor, bed and just name it, after all we were jobless. I must confess this act of ours was also a consoling activity at least the pleasure derived equals to pay day for those gainfully employed.
In all of these we knew we were doing the wrong thing and I made a bold attempt to tell her that it was not proper, she looked at me and said,” am hitting the streets” if you will deprive me of my only source of happiness. At first the meaning didn’t register to me, not until I realized she usually returns home at the early hours of the morning.
I prepared so hard for my interview, learning all the necessaries, not forgetting G math too. I ensured my only surviving coat of many colors was at its best and at last the D day was here.
I was at the venue quite early to meet a handful of fellow travelers and I sighed relief, at the thought of “we are not much” so the chances are high. But gradually my fears were confirmed as the turnout increased from a modest 50 people to well over 2000 job seekers. The sun was scorching and the time was 12:30 pm, and there was no trace of interviewers for an interview scheduled for 9:00 am.
Suddenly there was an announcement by a skinny lady informing us to form a queue, and this announcement signaled an earthquake of sort as we all scrambled to make the first five or ten on the queue, having in mind the uncertainties surrounded with such exercise.
I was at my best trust me as I was the number eleven man on the queue. The eleventh position to me was a superlative performance I put up, considering my previous positions of 4 digits and above.
She started calling out names and behold mine was missing from the list; initially I pretended I didn’t hear her as my anguish knew no bound. I could feel tears building up around my eye region as the thought of another opportunity slipped by. No! I said to myself, the job is mine!!!!! I screamed unconsciously, suddenly a pin drop silence enveloped the once “jankara market” like setting.
What is your name young man I heard a voice asking me, I paused and remembered the voice that invited me for the interview. I was able to utter Joshua Ocheja. Sounds familiar I think I heard her whisper to her colleague. I was ushered into the office and my emotions betrayed me. I was asked questions and I realized I was begging for a job instead of answering questions.
I didn’t get the job finally. I returned home and continued with my life of absolute debauchery.
The above though a fiction, illustrate the untold hardship youths of Nigeria faces after graduation from the university. A lot of them have embraced acts inimical to the interest of the country, while ladies have embraced prostitution as way out of the debacle.
Youth empowerment policies have eluded our generation, I speak on behalf of millions of unemployed youths out there that have given up in the struggle. We all know some have committed suicide and other acts out of sheer frustration, as the government has failed us woefully.
Job placement is premised on “man know man” or a letter from either a senator or a highly placed government official. This is what our dear country has turned into. There is no hope for the sons and daughters of the ordinary man on the streets. Nobody cares about us but I fear for one thing, I fear for the day the youths will pick up arms and revolt.
We have been left to fate or our faith by those up there, not minding and clearly ignoring the consequences of such actions. The future of the country rests on the shoulders of the youths, but ironically these youths have been abandoned wholly, and in some cases used as thugs by politicians to rig elections for people that do not have our interest at heart.
The universities are shut down, the federal government and ASUU seem to be at each other’s neck fighting for superiority rather than addressing the pertinent issue.
The time is ticking, frustration is setting in, I only hope the federal government realizes in good time before it gets out of control.
The future of Nigeria is important than the present. Government, wake up from your slumber and address this pertinent issue at hand.
