How Many Dangote, Elon Musk, Bezos, Have Been Turned to AKARA SELLERS in Nigeria – This Tantamount to “Brain-Waste”

How Many Dangote, Elon Musk, Bezos, Have Been Turned to AKARA (fried bean cake) VENDORS in Nigeria – This Tantamount to “Brain-Waste”

After watching the video, I did not see any ill advice in the statement made by Nigeria’s first lady, Mrs. Remi Tinubu, which has been interpreted out of context… She was directing her statement to peasant women – the mama l’ojas (uneducated market women). The problem is that she and her spokespeople are embracing the wrong interpretation of the video as a defense… Telling every jobless Nigerian to consider all sorts of menial jobs. Some of her jingoists are sharing videos of graduates frying akara by the roadside and others selling kuli-kuli in fancy-packaged bags… Doubling down instead of providing context and showing empathy for millions of jobless Nigerians that have been disappointed by successive governments in Nigeria, including the current one.

 

This weak defense demonstrates nothing but a complete disconnect from the reality of Nigeria and Nigerians. A height of insensitivity on the part of the elites who lead Nigeria to the plight of ordinary people, and a lack of foresight as the implications of wasting talents on menial jobs, which continues to compound the poverty situation in the country… Degree holders should not be selling akara on the street. They should be using their degrees to better and benefit our society… Otherwise, why go to school and spend millions of naira? You do not need a degree to become a successful akara vendor, do you?

 

Nigeria has one of the highest out-of-school children in the world today - around 18.3 million children — the highest number per capita globally. Now, asking those who scaled and obtained a degree to now pivot to professions that do not need a degree is saying, “we have failed you in creating jobs or enabling an environment, so take other jobs that will not scale the majority out of poverty; that is the most we can do...” Those old enough in Nigeria in the 1990s will remember akara rush-eh, and what became of it…We all cannot be akara sellers; we definitely don't need a college diploma to be a vendor of one. What type of economy will that be – one where all we do is buy and sell? It is a consumption economy – one that does not manufacture anything. Our teaming youths need jobs where they can use their degrees to work, not to stand by the roadside, selling akara, riding okada, driving Bolt, or roasting corn. They need an enabling environment that supports small- to medium-scale businesses that hire others and export goods outside the country, and generate foreign exchange.

 

When you are telling a political science graduate, a trained engineer, or a botanist, or a philosophy graduate, or a Vet Dr., to consider akara business … what is the value comparison between these menial professions and the millions of naira invested to train those brains, and the return those trainings are supposed to bring the person and the system that trained such? In which world do you spend millions to train an engineer and then they end up driving Bolt in Abuja or Lagos, without hope, except you are lucky or get connected to the right people who will help you find a job in the area of your training…

These brains are supposed to help curate innovations, policies, trades, and create wealth for our country, not be used for jobs that don't require education.

 

Nigerians are productive people; they need an enabling environment. We know because the same people who could not scale poverty at home are champions of industry abroad when they JAPA… We should not confine our next Musk, Branson, Elumelu, Zuckerberg, etc… to menial jobs… We should have a country that works for all … especially hardworking Nigerians who have invested time and resources to acquire higher education…

#createjobsfornigerianyouths