THE TRANSFORMATION IN NIGERIA ECONOMY BY THANKGOD AKPA

Growing up as a child, I remember my mum always told me she wanted me to study law at the university. I loved the idea and I already started telling my friends in school that I wanted to become a lawyer. Although as I became more mature, I started discovering my true passion and I was amazed it was quite different from what mummy wanted for me. Of course, I had to pursue my passion.

Discovering my passion and potentials was one of the craziest tasks I ever performed. It took me years and even up till now I keep discovering new passion and potentials. Well, it's no wasted years cos it’s the pursuit of those passions that makes the better person I am and of course, I’m striving to become the best I can be.

That’s not even the main point of from that book was that money this article. After spending 5years al- will not make ready in the university and about be- you rich as the title goes. I unginning the 6th year journey which derstood the real definition of is my final year, I began to wonder financial freedom then I was chalhow the outside world will be like. lenged but not condemned. It was One of those days as I was meditat- amazing to know that it is not ing, it occurred to me that I needed when you’ve gathered so much to be financially free before I leave money that you become financialthe university system. so I began to ly free. Money is the last thing think on what to lay my hands on to that comes, in pursuit of financial do but I remember a senior friend freedom he stated. once said “for you to earn you must Going further into the book, Dr learn” so I thought it wise to get Sunday began to teach about the books about money and then learn. laws of money and the number Glory to God, the first book I laid one law he stated was, know your my hands on was MONEY WILL passion. Now this will lead me to NOT MAKE YOU RICH by Sunday the main point of this article. Adelaja. I started reading that book Many years ago, many Nigerians and it transformed my life complete- were more interested in farming ly. The first thing I learnt because they were

sure the whites would buy their products and they will eventually make some money. Not so many persons were interested in going to school as farming was the major source of income as at then. Later on, some of our fathers who had a personal relationship with the white had their minds enlightened and they began to see the relevance of schooling. Those ones eventually became schooled and later became heads of many sectors during the colonial era. Because the white men preferred to put the people who thought like them to be in charge of some of those sectors. Seeing how education can make a slave become a master all of a sudden, some other Nigerians began to show interest in education. They wanted absolute freedom So education was the way out at that point. But then the hands of the clock changed In the late fifties, Nigerians became more interested in large scale business.

Those who had their minds enlightened already via education started buying farm produce from peasant farmers and then selling to the white. Since they understood the language of the white which is English. Business was at this time the highest paying thing. Although 4years before Nigeria gained independence, oil was discovered in oloibiri in the Niger Delta after half a century of exploitation. The transformation again continued when Nigeria gained independence. At that point the focus became oil. By the late 1960s, oil had supplanted cocoa, peanuts, and palm items as the nation’s greatest foreign exchange earner.

In all these, people were still pursuing an educational degree in the west and east while the northerners engaged in building business empires. One of such business mogul is non-other than Alico Dangote. So, it was an aggregation of Education, oil and Business. Agriculture began to fade from the list. Although it was quite difficult to become very successful in business and in the oil and gas sector except you had a very high starting capital. Subsequently, education became the way forward since they didn’t need so much money to be enrolled in a school. Missionary schools were still there and most of them were free.

Again tragedy sets in when multitude started chasing after some professional courses such as medicine, law, architecture, and engineering. And I wonder how that mentality crept in, maybe that’s because of every human desire a level of recognition. I mean it sounds sweet to say Dr, ARC, ENGR Ann Adamu. But the outcome of this tragedy was that the available jobs for these professionals were fewer than the professionals themselves. So, the concept of the labour market eventually came in. we began to have loads of people flaunting into the labour market year in year out. The transformation did not end there. Some intelligent folks later came out and started talking about learning a skill in addition to your university degree. Some Nigeria mothers will even say, “even if you no go school, just learn handwork”. So parents began to send their wards to learn tailoring, mechanic, vulcanizing and so on. It was also a good idea until those sectors also became saturated and if you move from one kilometre to the other you will see at least, a roadside mechanic. Why wouldn’t it be like that when in some mechanic workshops, you will see 10 apprentices. So people began to choose some other courses like theatre art, public admin since the other professional market became saturated and the so-called handworks were seemingly dignifying. Unfortunately, those other sectors also eventually became saturated. Nigerian students then came up with the slang “school na scam” because they felt like, how can I spend 18years of my life schooling only to go and join the multitude of people struggling for jobs in the labour market. From 2010, some human resource specialist came out again to say it is better to learn a digital skill since we are gradually moving into the information age. Where doctors are being replaced with nurses who have a little knowledge of computer operations. There are specialized machines now that you can easily feed with a patience symptom and they will prescribe drugs for patience. people then began to learn graphic design, web design, programming, social media, strategy, content marketing, email marketing, desktop publishing, networking, home automation and so on. This digital space is also getting saturated, everyone is now a

digital marketer. what then is the way out? First, let every man realise that life is beyond survival. Discover your passion, and pursue it. That’s the path of purpose fulfilment. And of course, when you fulfil your purpose, the money will certainly come. And While, you are still trying to find your passion or while your passion is yet to pay you, get a side hustle. INSTAGRAM: @onethankgodakpa FACEBOOK: @onethankgodakpa EMAIL: info@impactmedia.com.ng WEBSITE: www.impaktmedia.com