American University of Nigeria

In the fortnight, I have lived my life hustling and shuffling up and down, left and right, back and forth, trying different things, and putting tides together.   Summer has been particularly insightful. I dumped my CCNA program at the middle of it because I found something else interesting. There comes a stage in your life when you have to live your dreams, and your actions would be the product of your natural instinct and thoughts. If you are above 20 and your natural instinct does not influence your decisions by at least 70%, then you need help. As in, serious one!

The rate of unemployment in Nigeria is becoming a thing of concern. As an Internet Optimiser, I have observed with anecdotal evidences the kind of traffic job postings pulls on the web from the Nigerian demography.

I thank God for the unusual opportunities that surround AUN graduates, but as a patriotic Nigerian, I am still bordered for the people out there. Since AUN is one of the highest paying organizations in Nigeria, and it has preference for its products in its staffing recruitment, most alumni members often prefer to stay back and work with school. So it is a usual thing to always see AUN alumni at every corner of the university. There are even cases of those that have done masters abroad and come back to serve their alma mater.

I was in the bank one day and listened to someone saying that “AUN students are immune from unemployment.” That is true! In AUN, we have a career office that is saddled with the responsibility of making sure students are fixed upon graduation. Every year, they organize career fair to connect students with potential hires in a pragmatic way. Further, the university has several agreements with reputable organizations within and abroad that often result in a win win career opportunity for students. Through these packages, every AUN student has their career insured. The workability of this is owned to students’ portable population, the entrepreneurial orientation most students develop, and also the fact that majority of the parents at AUN are employers of labour. So at the end, the school always has little percentage of students to cater for. So unlike any other place in Nigeria, the supply of job for AUN students is above the demand.  It is therefore understandable that there is a sharp contrast between the employment possibilities of an AUN student and a typical Nigerian youth.

By and large, we should understand that AUN products only constitute a little fraction of the Nigerian youths and so, the problem still persists. Government has to wake up to this and to its other responsibilities. The youths too can wake up to the problem if only they think outside the box – like a typical AUN student would do. A book taught me that there are two categories of successful people, those who create wealth and those who make wealth by strength and competition. The latter category is usually common in a capitalist environment. It is clear that everyone cannot be creative, but it will make sense if those that are there understand and utilize their potentials instead of increasing the unemployment count. Like for me, I know and I have taken my path to creating wealth for myself and my community. It is therefore very incoherent to imagine that I will be a permanent secretary in a government ministry or a manager in an organization that is not mine in the nearest future. It is like thinking Xavi is aspiring to play for Eyimba team, or to imagine that Omorex will be a fashion star someday. The connection is lost!

I know the future is bright for me. Sometimes out of curiosity, I try to imagine how it looks exactly! But I know it is very bright. My ideal life will be to create wealth and opportunity for people. This philanthropic nature of mine is apparent to my current lifestyle. I derive joy in helping people rise to the top. And I have done a lot of online tutorial to train people on how to make money on the internet legitimately. I am fulfilled when I have to point to the internet entrepreneurs I have groomed.

Life is full of opportunities, make the best use  of them

olasunkanmi.ogundare@aun.edu.ng

@dotmantek