Graduates Life after the mandatory NYSC

Rita Rueben Dusu

After the national service, no more monthly allowance to the graduates, no place of Primary Assignment (PPA), no Community Development Service (CDS) and no more monthly clearance. Remember, once you finish your National Service, you will be on your own and more challenges are likely to arise.  No free breakfast, no free lunch, no free dinner and no pocket money. And by the way, your parents will be expecting from you to assist them.

 In Nigeria particularly, except your parents know somebody in government, you are likely to spend years looking for a job to do, more than the years you spent at the university. In the present society parents only play a role of guardians to their children which is very wrong.

Service year is a privilege to many graduates, if not to all. It is a year of enjoyment and frivolites, so if you are in that category, perish the idea. 

The service year is very important in your life. Plan your future and ponder your dream exactly. Any human being has a dream and an ambition, so as a graduate, you may have a good daydream of a place where you want to work but always go with a second alternative. Plan to save your money for a small business afterwards, so that you will not be idle after your service year even if you don't get a government job.

It is worrisome how the youth of nowadays use the phrase "school na scam" meaning that "school is scam" in a correct English. Anything scam is literally fake, that means according to the students, school is fake. A disagreement is drawn on this statement entirely. School is very necessary in life and it is very important variable and a way to success. Success does not necessarily mean richness but decency of life and affluence. An educated man is a valuable man in every society and he can never be taken for granted. But the unfortunate scene is how, schools now make graduate to be a job seekers instead of them to make them job creators, this is the reason why there is  high number of unemployed graduates. 

We are never taught of how to think outside the box. Schools should have a tactic to incite students to know how to be a self-reliant and an entrepreneurs of themselves. What is happening actually is that once we fail to fulfill our dreams of working with such top-rated multinational brands, we believe we have failed entirely.

In relation to this, there was an article I read at Nairaland where one man who is a graduate was narrating a story of what had happened to him after his service year. He said "I finished my service recently and when I returned to my village, I discovered that all my friends had achieved a lot in life." "Many of them own houses, they have married and some even have children, while I was there looking for a work to start."

 However, some business ideas are so disappointed. A graduate should at least has to be rational in thinking, especially when it comes to a business idea. There are online businesses and computer related works. As a graduate who is at least recognized as an educated person, you should have not cage yourself hopelessly.  sure the amount of money used to buy motorcycle, is quite enough to buy a computer and other service equipment to start the online businesses or any other reasonable marketing.

 However, I am not condemning his business idea anyway, but I am just trying to show you the gravity of a poor educational system which limits our thinking and makes us weak, particularly when it comes to a business plan.

There are million of people in this condition where you will see friends who did not go to school, do well but a graduate is in a no work situation. Yes, government cannot give job to every graduate but at least it can create humor in us to make us know how to create jobs for ourselves, and to even employ others. This will reduce unemployment tremendously. Therefore, as a serving corper, know that time will come where your service ends. Think of something better to help your life. Never give up of your dream.

Rita Rueben Dusu,

Mass communication department, Abubakar tatari Ali Polytechnic Bauchi, Bauchi State. She can be reached via: elsimonmum@gmail.com