By Agbongiasede Precious
A lot of Nigerians do things wrongly while always thinking they are in the right. This is quite obvious when one views things from the angles of religion, as well as education, which, in Nigeria, is mostly perceived to be the highest knowledge attainment level.
In the aspect of religion, to begin, it is common knowledge that this human practice serves as the bedrock for laying and building the foundation of doctrines, most of which incite fear in the minds of people. And the country, Nigeria, serves as a comfort zone for a lot of these religious platforms, Churches in particular, due to the superstitious nature of many of its citizens. As opposed to opening up companies which would be beneficial in the creation of more jobs and wealth, a lot of Nigerians would rather turn to religion by establishing Churches that do nothing but incite fear and enhance poverty in a lot of Nigerians who are members of such churches.
As for the issue of education, the county's numerous graduates are a perfect case study to this effect. I've always opined that due to the increasingly deficient nature of tertiary institutions in the country, a lot of these schools do not impart quite enough knowledge in their students. Most students in these schools lack knowledge and experience in the practical aspects of the courses they study in Nigerian universities, while only being knowledgeable in the theoretical areas. The University of Benin (UNIBEN), for example, solely relies on the meagre supply of electricity produced by BEDC (Benin Electricity Distribution Plc) when there are professors of electrical engineering who can provide solutions to the issues of power supply which the school faces.
These malignant difficulties arising from religion and education which plague many a Nigerian have made the country's youths lack when it comes to a lot of necessary things. A lot of religious concepts have been misconstrued by Nigerians, with a more dominant aspect being the concept of paying tithes. The spiritual leaders of many of these mushroom Churches springing up everywhere in the country teach their members that if they pay their tithes, then God will bless them. They then proceed to this, sit back and wait for the so called blessings. They do not put in an ounce of work, they lack character in their workplaces for those that do work, they mismanage any amount of fund that comes their way and they do not make use of opportunities they come across. How then would these blessings come?
The Church only remembers to teach their members tithe paying in order to battle poverty, without teaching them about giving to those less fortunate, an act, which, biblically, can battle poverty as well. Till date, I am yet to see one person being rewarded with wealth in return for the sole act of paying tithes or incessant prayer, without putting in any other effort, magically bringing work for a person. Only knowledge and the value one builds up over time bring wealth, but most Nigerians would rather spend a third of their lives in churches praying and paying tithes than putting in the work required to get what they want. If all of the Churches in Nigeria, perhaps, changed into companies, then a lot of their members would, most likely, be working and earning the money they need to achieve their goals. Prayer and Churches, to reiterate, do not bring work. Being employed in companies, on the other hand, does.
To overcome the aforementioned issues, I would like to give a conjecture of what would most probably happen to us in the next twenty years. In the next twenty years, a lot of people will end up losing their jobs and their value in their various areas of expertise. The increasing use of robots and AI to carry out various work operations in different fields would be more commonplace, as opposed to using humans who have a lot of flaws; some of which are inherently biological, such as falling sick. And others caused due to the nature of humans, such as arriving late to work or skipping work entirely, lying, embezzling funds from their workplace and so on. A lot of investors would rather put their investments in robots who carry out duties with a lot more perfection and dilligence than humans could ever attain. These robots and AI will end up replacing humans in the labour market and taking the jobs of humans, thereby pushing people to unemployment. These same robots and AI would be the ones to catch and maybe even apprehend one if one decides to steal due to unemployment and lack of money.
My advice for young people right now is that they begin learning very important and usable skills and shun these backwards Nigerian schools which have almost nothing to offer. In addition to learning a skill, they should as well apply for foreign courses and degrees which would provide them with a more solid stance and help in establishing themselves internationally. When you have these skill sets that are in tune with the digitalised and robotized age which the world is fast developing towards, these robots and AI would end up working for you, instead of stealing your jobs. A lot of people who choose to follow the more traditional paths and get admitted into these Nigerian universities end up not doing well after graduating. Some of them put a lot of money into their education and end up making nothing from it, some may even end up losing their lives due to the various upheavals that go on in the country's tertiary institutions and others who are fortunate to graduate end up not getting employed in the career areas they studied. It is only the work you create with the skill sets you have acquired that you can enjoy later on. In addition, do not forget to try and make good connections with people who may turn out to help you in your career paths in the future.
The following are a number of things which would enable you survive the changes which would spring up in the coming years:
1. Make use of opportunities. These opportunities which you come across could help you in establishing yourself. Moreover, do not forget to respect the people you meet , because they, as well, can provide help to you when you least expect it.
2. Do not mismanage your funds which you can use to invest, no matter how little they may be.
3. Ensure you build and maintain a solid character