NAIJA YOUTHS ARENA

    There is a personal development craze in Africa now, where everybody is like " go and learn a skill " many University graduates with no Jobs are encouraged to learn even if it is one simple skill they can use to make money and support themselves financially because Jobs are not readily available these days. Of course, for the ones who didn't go to school they are left with one option which is to learn a skill or trade in other to survive.     Single unmarried women educated or not are advised to learn skills as much as they can while still unmarried , so that they can contribute to there husbands financially and be assets rather in their husbands houses. Even secondary schools these days have started teaching handicrafts such as sowing, baking, barbing, computer operating etc.  Due to the need to equip every person all round  to face the challenges of life.      While this is not to make a case for skill development. I do not also in anyway discourage th

       The issue of parents choosing courses for their children is not a new thing. I have heard parents boast of how this their child will be a doctor and the other one an engineer, the other a lawyer and so on.  The problem now is when that child grows up and is inclined towards another discipline but the parents insist the child must do their recommended course.      Parents have many reasons for doing this. Some of them as a matter of pride and prestige. “ My son is a lawyer“. As a matter of pride and prestige. Others as a poverty alleviation program. “If my son does petroleum engineering he will work in an oil company and earn money " or even for ease of employment - “doctors always have job waiting for them, you don't have to wait long years for employment“.      There are other reasons parents do this. Some of them do not know about other courses, they are either illiterates or not well exposed. When you say microbiology, they don't know the relevance of that yo

    Hello lets face it, quality education is costly, especially these days. The cost of even primary and secondary education compete with the that of tertiary institutions. Anyone determined to go to school now must count the cost and bear that in mind.     Another even more painful truth is that there is that there is poverty everywhere. Money is just not easy to find hear in Nigeria and sub Sahara Africa, which is almost synonymous with hunger and poverty. To therefore think that lack of money is peculiar to just you or your family is delusional. Your case may be bad but there are millions you are probably better than. People who can't even afford one square meal a day. Poverty is lack of means (not just money) to meet life  needs. In cases of extreme poverty, even life's basic needs of food, shelter, cloth and health care are not met before even other important needs as education, transportation and recreation.    Poverty is a world wide problem. I can guarantee that yo

     In Nigeria, it is very common to see students studying courses they didn't bargain for initially. You hear them say "I went in for medicine but they gave me zoology". You will wonder if they actually merited medicine and were shortchanged or they were forced to accept the unwanted course with a gun on their heads      Due to the backlog of admission seekers here I'm Nigeria. Admission into the government owned public Universities to do any courses at all is not easy. It is even more difficult when you desire any of the "most wanted courses" too many people are going in for medicine, law and other few professional courses. Some of these courses are so sort for that it takes the University admission board to shift candidates that applied for them to other departments in other to fill up vacant spaces in this other unapplied courses. Yearly admission quota in these departments still do not get filled up most times. Reasons for desiring a course abov

         There is definitely poverty in the world, especially in Africa. Unemployment is ravaging most African countries. It is a common thing to find graduates from the Universities who have been unemployed for years after leaving school. Graduates have to find Jobs however and wherever, whether the jobs are befitting of their status or in line with their training in school becomes irrelevant. They must make ends meet.    Graduates have to descend to the same menial and manual jobs that illiterates and unskilled laborers scrambled for. Taxi and bus driving, conductors, brick layers, petty trading,  nursery school teachers and minders, security guards and errand boys of companies and individuals. They do these while waiting and hoping for better employment someday. The unfortunate thing is that most of them never get to find this better jobs. Some find only very long years of search and Labour in unloved fields.      There is therefore a trend among young persons planning to ent

     FOLLOW YOUR PASSION - STUDY YOUR CHOICE  COURSE  I believe most of my readers are still you young enough to avoid the consequences of not following your passion. Of studying courses you are not enthusiastic about, a course you would rather not study.    As a young person, growing up and deciding what to do with your life,  the choice of course to study in the University will ultimately affect what you will be doing in life, who you will be and the fulfillment you will have. Do not let anything cause you to make the mistake of being stuck in a place you have no heart for. You may live to regret it.    The truth is that each of us including you have a  purpose in life. This is the reason why God created you. Who God want you to be in life and what he wants you to do with your life. Each of our purposes are unique. It is not based on your background or your parents background or which school you attended. Purpose is inherent in you irrespective of your past history.    The Good t