This is to the Nigerian youths who rely solely on their certificates for survival in the City of Darkness. Please, keep your degree in a safe custody for future opportunity, and engage in entrepreneurial skills, otherwise, you will die wretchedly. The government of Nigeria does not even know whether you exist or not. They have no plans for you. That is why you must have a plan for your life and use your brain. Most of the educated people in Nigeria are poor. Majority of the educated ones earn less than N55,000 for a salary before tax and other deductions.

 

When the deductions are put into consideration, the net salary comes to around N50,000. The net salary then suffers from loan deductions of up to N15,000 leaving the salary at around N35,000. The landlord then demands for his N15,000 and monthly shopping takes away N10,000 leaving one with a N10,000. The bus will demand for N300 going to and from work and relatives get another N2,500. The whole salary is gone and borrowed money starts operating. The borrowed money includes short loans and salary advances.

 

The difference between poverty and prosperity is property. A prosperous person has property to his name while a poverty-stricken person has no property to show. Using this understanding, therefore, most of the degree holders are poverty-stricken, borrowing money to buy chicken and chips, pizza and a car. The biggest excuse for getting paid such low amounts of money and having to sit and work for another person for 30 days is the degree (certificate) that one possesses and that is all. This has made most of the degree holders very poor and are most likely to die that way.

 

A degree holder does not know how to generate money unless that money is generated for the employer. A degree holder is so dependent on the salary that he can do anything to get a job but will not think of starting a business of his own to employ others. That is why majority of Nigerians will remain poor for long. Most of us go to universities to get certificates and them come out on the street to start looking for jobs, instead of creating jobs. A degree holder is not prepared to sell chips but is very happy to work for companies that will pay them stipends.

 

If you are working under someone and expecting money every month, you are not different from a slave. You can never be free to enjoy your life. Your boss will decide when you should wake up in the morning. He will decide when you go to the bathroom. He will decide when and what you will eat. He will decide what time you resume for work and what time to close from work. He will even decide what you take home at the end of the month. Your boss can curse your parents and you dare not talk because he is paying your salary.

 

Working for salary is like giving your destiny to another person to control. It is like giving them the key to your life. They can drive you anyhow. They will determine almost everything about your life. A degree holder in Nigeria is not prepared to sell popcorn in the street but is very happy to work for Dangote outlet in the city and mum river-sides. A degree holder is not prepared to sell second hand clothes but is very happy to be employed by Zenith Bank with the business of selling stocks and looking for customers in a scorching sun.

 

Do we go to school to look for jobs or to create jobs? A degree holder is not prepared to make N150,000 monthly doing his own business but is very happy to work in a bank getting paid N25,000 monthly. A degree holder is not prepared to start a company and grow it in two to three years but will spend three years searching for a job. Is that not what Nigerian graduates do? We have become so accustomed to searching for jobs. A degree holder is not prepared to sell food to students but will be happy to be reporting to a boss with no qualifications as office assistant, as long as he is paid N30,000 for a salary.

 

Nigerian graduates are so eager to get out of this country and work in another country than spend time to develop their own country. A Nigerian degree holder staying in a foreign land is very keen to condemn Nigeria but never contributing to the development of this country. A Nigerian degree holder would rather sweep the streets of London or USA than start a business to make money in his own country. That is how we have been conditioned. We won’t be running to America if Americans don’t develop their country. Most Nigerian youths prefer to watch porn on their laptops but will never sit to write a book using the same laptops to sell and make money.

 

A Nigerian degree holder will blame the government for lack of jobs even after he was on government bursary for him to have his degree. Nigeria is blessed with young people who have masters degree and others are doctors in different technical fields such as IT and Engineering but all of them have failed to create a cartoon character or develop a movie from their field, instead, they are very happy to buy Tom and Jerry for their children, thereby promoting America and UK. Blacks are their own problems. We are never producers but consumers. That is why we are always backward. If you want to progress, keep that degree and start thinking better than someone without a degree.