OWO NI KOKO (MONEY IS THE MAIN THING)

OWO NI KOKO (MONEY IS THE MAIN THING)

One of my young customers walked into my small shop some time ago to collect his sewn wears and mistakenly stepped on another customer waiting to be measured by me. At first I just stood there watching the show:

“Do you know who I am? I’m sure you never saw the four walls of a university that is why you cannot even say sorry after stepping on me with those cheap shoes of yours”

“For your information I am a graduate, a lawyer for that matter, with a second class upper if your grandmother does not know of it. Maybe you are the one who needs to go back to school to learn some manners for you lack one obviously.”

I did not know who the more frustrated customer was. Were manners now acquired from going to the university? These two men could not even pay the initial fee I charged them and there they were insulting one another; a show of educational power. And as we say today “who education epp?” I was not ready to even settle them both; they were obviously frustrated with their lives as many of us are as Nigerians-Africans. I gave the first his wears and went back to work without taking the other’s measurement; he was pricing too much and I had bigger customers’ wears to attend to. They took their meaningless proud fight outside my shop while I continued making my day’s money.

I recall that back in the day, university graduates with good grades were assured instant employment and the bad grades, maybe not instant but employment anyway. All you had to do was study hard and on the day of your graduation companies would visit your school to grab you fast. Most of our parents got their dream jobs through this process. Even most of our parents who had just their secondary school certificate still work in government establishments and the lucky children get initiated by their parents or family friends.

Now I experience graduates having no option but to opt for courses or skills far from their course of study and this has reduced the number of specialized workers in the country. For instance, I studied Biochemistry and after I searched for a job for almost two years, I had to learn how to sew men’s clothing because I observed that there is money in it if you met the right customers; the rich ones. Like me, many other job seekers must have done the same so there is no difference between a graduate and a non-graduate because we are all delving into the same line. So what is the need of going to school? My advice to people, especially the secondary school graduates, is to open your eyes. Get experience in whatever line you love and think about making money. Being a graduate is not something to boast about when all you do with it is look at the certificate that earns you nothing. Look for something anybody hardly does and does not require certificate ownership; that’s what many of us are-certificate owners…

Don’t forget that retiring in Nigeria is like a taboo. So don’t count on getting a job as soon as you are done with school, unless you have long legs. Although there are some jobs that are available in Nigeria: driver, house help, sales boy/girl, marketer, cleaner, etc. where you get used even more than a tissue paper. The reality in front of us is a sorry one but we have to make the best out of it. Yes not everyone will be CEO, but have a backup plan and maybe you just might be the next CEO. 

As for me, Biochemistry  has brought nothing but hungry human reactions so I will continue struggling in my tailoring line because we are many competing for customers. . For those of us in Lagos there’s Obioma, Carpenter tailor, Island and Mainland tailors and while some are satisfied with their daily meager, others want to be among the likes of Mai Atafo.  I hope my shared view helps someone out there… OWO truly NI KOKO and that’s why I like that Davido’s song: ma lo nogere. Lol! I’m not bold enough to reveal my identity… I am a Nigerian just being honest!

A SHARED EXPERIENCE...

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