As The Year Folds Up - How to finally land your dream job in 2020!

Nigeria is one of the most populated nations in the world with a population of about 200 million. This population provides her a strong workforce which can through gainful employment increase the economic potentials of Nigeria.

The population of Nigeria and the abundance of graduates who can  become productive has not led into direct productivity for the African country.

Recruitment exercises into various government agencies in the past has seen the death of several during the recruitment process. It was an eyesore for instance to watch videos of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recruitment where young people were attempting to scale the wall of the parastatal in order to access the locked venue of the test.

The desperation of many youths as regards employment is understandable as it also determines the quality of life and ability to survive of an individual. Employment is attached to dignity and Nigeria has a lot of youths who since leaving the University have found no direction in life.

Some of these graduates are unemployable. Truly, the condition of Nigeria also indicates that due to the poor quality of education, many graduates are produced who cannot be employed. Easy to put this on public education which is in shambles - however, how do you ensure this doesn't impact your life and future negatively?

The condition of underemployment is also severe in Nigeria with terrible wage rates for much work and the concern of several Nigerians has been how to improve their standard of living while managing paltry sums as salaries and the Nigerian youth is also confronted by a situation where he cannot find employment and cannot also raise capital towards a Dream.

As a young graduate myself who landed my dream job in the middle of all kinds of harsh situations, I understand that the condition in Nigeria is still too unpleasant and many graduates in Nigeria have become unable to achieve full potential. For this reason, I have come up with an online course, The Employable Graduate which gives a detailed approach to landing your dream job before graduation.

From healing small-minded thinking to getting valuable work experience regardless of what level you're in or your graduating class of grade, I cover extensively everything you need to know, and that you may not necessarily be taught in school.

This course launches in March 2020 - click here to hear it first! when we go live

PUSH

It was a Tuesday morning. As I walked through the corridors of the hospital in which I was, with my mum, I heard a loud scream from a woman in a nearby room. Startled, I asked my mum why the woman screamed. Turning to me, mum said, “Simi, we just passed a labour room”. I went silent, thoughts racing through my mind. “Labour room!”, I thought to myself, “Wow, what goes on in there is no joke”.

While I will not attempt to reduce to nothing what the labour room means to a pregnant woman, the labour room is actually one room we all go into at some points in life. I'd define this room as a birthing place - the place which you go into to bring out what is inside you. You may need to cry, shout or even scream but you cannot keep the 'baby' in you any longer. Your baby may be a dream, a relationship, a project, a business plan...anything! Just birth it forth!

The push will not be easy. You may want the baby to stay inside a little longer, you may even wish you never got pregnant but with every ounce of energy you have left in you, PUSH that baby out and experience the endless joy that follows.

Have a fantastic week ahead.

Similoluwa.

Scrap this NYSC NOW!!!

I started a series on Inflation and its effects last week but we have to take a pause to examine what is actually happening in the NYSC camps in Nigeria especially after the death of Ifedolapo and Udeme, corpers who lost their lives in the training camp in Kano and Zamfara States due to human negligence.

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Brief history of NYSC

National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was created in a bid to reconcile, reconstruct and rebuild the country after the civil war. The Civil war lasted from 6th July, 1967 till 15th January, 1970. General Yakubu Gowon promulgated the NYSC decree 24 of 22nd May, 1973. It was stated that NYSC is being established with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity.

After Tertiary education, young Nigerians who are less than 30 years old 'serve' the country under the NYSC scheme. Community Development Service (CDS) is a major feature of the 1 year compulsory service, and I should quickly add that corpers are deployed to serve in areas different from the ones where they were born in or the ones where they schooled in.

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The main issue...

Tragic events have happened over the years that  have made people question the relevance of NYSC. Nigeria covers an area of about 925000 km sq.(just for the records, this is really large!) and has 36 states + Federal Capital Territory. To serve the country, people are usually posted to geo-political zones which they probably have never been to or have no idea of what living there looks like.

One of the major tragic occurrences that has made people really question the relevance of NYSC is the fatal accidents on the roads while travelling from a zone to another. Last year, I know of 2 very promising youth corpers who lost their lives to fatal car accidents on Nigerian highways.  These guys had already graduated from University for goodness sake! Imagine what their parents went through putting them through school, only to lose them to the wicked claws of death, no thanks to TERRIBLE Nigerian roads.

The second tragic occurrence I can recall was mainly political. We had an election in Nigeria, parties won and lost as the case is in normal democracy, and next thing we heard was that corpers were being killed all over the country. Again, Imagine what their parents went through putting them through school, only to lose them to unapologetic claws of death, no thanks to political instability.

The third occurrence, which is most painful is the death of corpers even right in the training camp due to lack of facilities human beings need for basic survival. I just heard 3 corpers are dead now! What is going on Nigeria? Can someone on the floor of the senate or house of rep do something about this? These deaths are majorly due to lack of good medical facilities. Ifedolapo had an ánaphylactic reaction and Udeme had diarrhoea. Does this mean the medical guys on ground could do nothing about this? This is disheartening

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Way forward...

We need an action plan....Nigerians what do we say, and how do we go about this? Has NYSC outlived its usefulness?

Go on, paste your comment and let's see how we can make something positive happen in the right direction. This is NO joke, this is serious business

What our current inflation rate means for the average Nigerian (1/x)

I was on my way back home today when I saw a woman hawking fried fish. She was wailing bitterly about the state of things in the country. Shortly before I saw her, I considered putting up a post on 'Inflation and the current state of the Nigerian economy' - when I saw and heard her, I figured it was time to write on this topic. (I'll be touching on a couple of economic terms in this series and I promise to break-it-down so we can all understand what's up presently in Nigeria).

Okay. Back to the woman. She looked like she was in her late 30s or early 40s. She carried a baby on her back. Just beside her was a young boy (about 6 years old) who was walking about with her as she hawked. She looked tired and stressed, but still kept on hawking, like her life depended on the day's sales. I looked at her, wishing I had the money to start her up in another business that will require less physical stress compared to what she was currently going through. A rough estimate of the total sales of the fish she hawked was about N700 (Seven hundred naira), and I imagined how she was going to live on that with 2 children (or more).

She represents the average Nigerian. If not in every way, in little variants here and there. (Think about it)

The question that comes quickly to my mind after this sight becomes: What does the current inflation rate mean for a woman like this?

To start with, Inflation is the persistent, continual and sustained increase in price of goods and services. This means things become more expensive such that I can only buy less with my naira. Take for example: I, Similoluwa entered University in 2010. As at this time (2010), higher education notebooks cost N100 each. I graduated in 2016, and now, the same higher education notebook costs N220. In 2010, I would have bought 2 books with N220 (at N100 each), and I would still have been left with N20 change. Inflation occurred over the years, and prices rose.

The value of the naira is defined by its purchasing power i.e. what you can do with your money  determines its worth. Now, when there is inflation, there is a reduction in what you can actually do with your money. In other words, your money(naira in this case) loses worth.

Having defined Inflation, what then does an inflation rate say and what are the implications of an increase in rate for me as a Nigerian?

Join me in the next post for a continuation of this series.

Cheers to the freaking weekend.

Simex lori gangan. (Dad calls me this, still don't know what it means)

About my sabbatical leave...

Hey guys!

I'm not sure sabbatical is the word BUT it's good to be back. Gosh! I haven't blogged in MONTHS.

The essence of my blog is to journey through life with you remember? I really have to apologize for journeying alone since April...Jeez! I  have to confess that the 'after-school' period of my life (the period of time after one graduates from the University) was filled with over 10,000 bumps...I mean, I had to really sit down and ask myself, 'Simi, what exactly did we say we wanted to make out of life again?

One thing I have realized is that life itself is a journey and you sometimes don't have the full picture- It is usually line upon line, precept upon precept. The beauty of everything is that we can always hope to, and work towards getting to our destinations safely, no matter the type of bumps, twists or turns we meet on the way.

It's really good to be back. 

So in my world of blogging, I'm opening the back seat of the door once again for YOU. Come in, will you?

See you in a jiffy!

Mosimiloluwa.

Decisions

You get to some stages in life where you make some critical 'life-determining' decisions.

For some, it's the decision to donate a kidney to a loved one; for another, it is the decision to give away their last meal.

Whatever your decision, just ensure you can look back in time and say 'I MADE THAT DECISION, no matter the consequence you had to face.

It's Goodnight from me.

Mosimiloluwa.

OKAFOR'S LAW: The law of repeatable action

I was gisting with my 'about-to-be Doctor' friend about her ward rounds and medical sessions they had in the hospital that morning.

By the way, Dr Tayo Adisa is my longest standing friend. She's sooooooooooo much fun to be with and when she starts the gist....just sit back, relax and listen to her.

This ensued between us

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Tayo: Simi, guess what I heard today?
Simi: What?
Tayo: I heard about Okafor's law. The law says if people had once done something, they can do it again. So if lovers once had sex together, they can do it again, no matter the number of years that have elapsed.
Simi: Really???????
Tayo: I heard it o. I was shocked. It's even published in an academic paper as I heard.

We then moved on to talk about other things. But the law stuck in my mind-Okafor's Law

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While I have my reservations. I mean....the fact that something occurred once does not necessarily mean it will happen again, I still strongly think it is better not to start some things.

A whole lot happens around habits, addictions and behavioral patterns that it is just very safe to play safe.

Moralists will tell you the difference between right and wrong. Religious beliefs also frame the way we see rights and wrongs. Notwithstanding, when choices are made, consequences follow.

If going by your value system,'it' is wrong, then kindly gather the strength in you and stay away from it. Don't start it. Period.

And if you've started, well, good news, YOU CAN STOP. You can reach me on koyesimi@gmail.com for further discussions on this.

Cheers to the ending week!. Countdown to graduation, by the way (Yipeee!)

Mosimiloluwa.