A dearth of work

‘You are welcome Aunty,’ she answered before walking away. Turning to her mother Umma I observed. ‘It seems to me like we will soon be hearing wedding bells in this house. Did you say she’s doing her national service now?’ I asked. ‘Actually she finished her NYSC a few months ago. She’s already in the […]

‘You are welcome Aunty,’ she answered before walking away. Turning to her mother Umma I observed.

‘It seems to me like we will soon be hearing wedding bells in this house. Did you say she’s doing her national service now?’ I asked.

‘Actually she finished her NYSC a few months ago. She’s already in the labour market, looking for a permanent job.’ Umma replied.

‘I hope she gets good one soon, then we can start preparing for her big day.’ I said, dropping another wedding hint.

‘Actually the wedding would have come earlier than the job, but I decided that we must do the sensible thing before we end up regretting.’ She explained.

‘Really, what do you mean by that?’ I asked.

‘I mean the young man who asked for her hand in marriage had already sent his people and we had begun the formalities. Suddenly we heard that he has no job. We asked what he does exactly and were told he works at his mother’s friend’s bakery, as a cashier, where he earns fifteen thousand naira a month. I demanded that he gets a better job before I hand my daughter over to him.’ Umma proclaimed.

‘Yes you are right, though he can only get as far as his qualification can take him. I mean if he is only qualified to be a cashier at a bakery you can’t force him to go for something higher, he might never get it.’ I said.

‘The young man has a Master’s degree in Accounting, from an overseas university, too.’ Umma replied.

‘A master’s degree in Accountancy what is he doing in a bakery shop then?’ I asked.

‘He said it is to gain some experience since it’s better than doing nothing. He has been applying for jobs and doing interviews and aptitude tests ever since he finished his national service, but so far no success. According to his mother, she sent him to her friend’s bakery to help out because it is better than lying around the house all day. A young man who has spent all his life studying can go astray if he finds himself totally idle for months on end, she argued.’ Umma narrated.

‘But how true is this story, that a young man with a Master’s degree can fail to find a job? Did you try to cross check it?’ I asked.

‘Yes, I was totally amazed at the story too. So I checked them out. Luckily they live in the same area as my elder sister and one of her sons is actually a friend to Zuwaira’s suitor. Not only is Habibu’s story true but there are two others like him in the same neighbourhood. According to my nephew, all three were young silver spoons who had their university education abroad but are now back in a country that has no jobs for them. They’ve shared CVs all over town but the work just isn’t there. Luckily for the other two, their fathers had their own businesses so they have absorbed them into their workforce on a salary of twenty thousand naira a month. When I asked what they could do with N20,000 a month, my nephew said they claim that at least they can fuel their cars and buy phone call credit. It saves them having to beg for even that after all their parents had spent educating them.’ Umma said.

‘But this is amazing. At some point we thought our problem was having too few educated youths, so we concentrated on educating them. Now lo and behold, they are educated but with nothing to do. What kind of society do we live in that we can’t create jobs for our youths when there is a lot to do all over the place. I mean look around us, from our streets, to our hospitals and our schools, we have work that needs to be done. I wonder what is wrong that we can’t absorb these youths.’ I lamented.

‘I wonder too Hajiya Bint, but I have long told myself that I will never marry off any daughter of mine to a man who isn’t self-reliant. I have seen what happened in the case of Hajiya Dela, my neighbour. They allowed the girl to marry her jobless suitor and he has remained jobless ever since. They rented the house for them, bank-rolled the wedding, sponsored them for further studies abroad, in fact did everything to make things easy for him but the young man has refused to rise to his feet. He claims he’s a businessman, but actually just drives around town chatting with friends and earning nothing. After three children, Hajiya Dela and her husband are still picking their every bill.’ She concluded.

‘Now that is quite unfortunate. But from what you said Zuwaira’s suitor has parents who are comfortable enough to sponsor his wedding and fully accommodate them until he can find a suitable job, why don’t you allow the wedding to go ahead, at least you know he won’t end up being a liability to you.’ I urged.

‘Yes, I sensed that from what my nephew and Habibu’s mother said when she came here, but I want him to be his own man. I know that if they were to get married now he will sustain the marriage only through his parent’s effort. They will feed them, clothe them, give them accommodation and take charge of their lives. This is a recipe for disaster. They will never have a life of their own. That is not what I want for my daughter.’ Umma stated.

‘I know how you feel, it is every mother’s dream to have her daughter married where she will be happy and free. But you also know one of the things that must not be delayed in Islam is a girl-child’s wedding, once you are satisfied with a suitor’s religion and character. So please let them go ahead with their wedding plans and continue encouraging them both to find suitable jobs. Meanwhile, we have to rise up to the challenge of creating jobs for our youths. The real recipe for disaster is having all those educated and uneducated youths roaming around the streets jobless. We have to sit down with our husbands to discuss this issue so as to see how we can get our children gainfully employed even without government’s effort.’ I said.

‘But how is that possible Hajiya Bint? Our government is the biggest employer of labour in this country. If it doesn’t create jobs it means we are doomed, and our children even more so because they are the future.’ She observed.

‘No I disagree with you on this. I think if we and our husbands can go out there and identify all the things that need to be done, all the development efforts that can create employment then raise funds to register small companies that can do these work by employing qualified and able-bodied youths, we can by-pass government and actually empower our youths. Most developed countries of the world rely on private entrepreneurship more than government to get themselves employed. Until we are ready to wean ourselves off government we will not do the thousand and one things we need to do for our societal development as well as mop up our teeming unemployed youths.’ I enthused.

‘I hope you are right. I will definitely raise this up with my husband and urge him to discuss with like-minded middle class income earners like ourselves to see how many will be interested in doing this job-creation thing. We will be doing ourselves a lot of good, if it succeeds because we would have helped our children to get employed as well as provided much needed services that the government neglected to provide due to misplaced priorities. Yes, the more I think about it the more I think we can do this Hajiya Bint.’ Umma said, relaxing into a smile for the first time.