It was a shocking sight (though not a novel one) to see thousands of graduates troop out to write the aptitude test recently conducted by INEC for ad hoc staff. The turnout was frighteningly massive and the unnerving spectacle that was the sea of heads was enough to jolt any slumbering government to the stark reality of unemployment. After standing for hours, not a few limps started to fail their owners. Phone cameras captured scenes of hapless job seekers who fainted like swooning female fans in a star-studded rock concert. It was no concert. Fainting fans belong in societies where there is so little to worry about in terms of material welfare not 21st century Nigeria where to land a job the ‘plummess’ (no pun intended) notwithstanding takes a multiplicity of skills, smarts and often times under-the-table approaches.
Speaking of under-the table tactics reminds me of the Salahis in the average Nigerian job seeker. Let me jog your memory a bit. The Salahis are the attention-seeking American couple whose claim to fame was gate-crashing into a White house ball. 10 seconds of Google search would instruct one to the effect that they were an obviously comfortable duo tired of the routine whirl of their lives. The Salahis have found a kindred spirit in thousands of Nigerian job seekers who have devised creative means to take a shot at elusive job offers- gate crashing into venues of recruitment tests. Talk of drive and passion – qualities that have become well worn out of incessant use in job adverts.
When I see haunting pictures of young people wasting away in their prime , it reminds me that of a collective failure to address a problem that is poised to make a mockery of all economic projections nay wishful thinking and make them go the way of their forbears a la Vision 2000. I was privy to a similar picture of longsuffering job seekers in my penultimate year in the university who had trooped out en masse for a test conducted by one of the commercial banks. The scene could have been mistaken for one of the ubiquitous Pentecostal crusades redolent with promises of deliverance, prosperity and salvation. Yes, salvation came for the organisers of the test through the instrumentality of the overzealous Nigerian policemen who helped in announcing the verdict of the now exasperated test organizers that the test had been called off. I could easily have ascribed the enthusiastic turnout to the mouth-offering package that the banks offer in their gung-ho days, before the arrival of the new sheriff. That thinking has since been proven wrong. I have since learned that in the face of hopelessness people would the most drab of vocation when the chips are down
One of such jobs considered drab is a career in the civil service. The dream job belongs in the oil companies, the Telcos and the banks. Few people are looking in the direction of the civil service. When a friend called the other day to say she had joined the Police, my heart missed a beat. I wondered why a veterinary doctor would choose to work in an institution that many are quick to tag as discredited. Further introspection on my part brought to the fore the connection between the aversion of idealistic young men and women to working in these institutions and the deepening of the rot in the system. For once I imagined the difference that would be made when forthright young men and women, not yet soiled with the malfeasance that oozes from cesspits that are public institutions, find their way into the system.
I pictured a polite police officer courteously demanding my particulars; I imagined an admin staff in the ministry who attends to my enquiries politely when I drop by the office to request a service that is my fundamental human rights.
It is stating the obvious to say that the civil service could use a shot of fresh vigour that young graduates have aplenty. A huge dose of idealism is needed too. That dose would serve as a vaccine lest that oft bandied cop out: if you can’t bear them, join them becomes their mantra six months down the line. There are innumerable barriers that make it difficult for the civil service to attract and retain the best brains. To put it mildly the civil service is Jurassic park. As a metaphor for national obsolescence it gives a telling picture of complacence, smugness and a gross incompetence that deepens our collective woes. My reading of Nigeria’s history revealed the golden age of the civil service where brilliant graduates looked forward to an eventful career in public service. Those days are only reserved for history books and fodders for nostalgic dreaming. However, I believe that if the civil service is purged of all the sickening cobwebs that make it unappealing to young, forward-looking people a huge difference would result. At the moment, it is still a no-go area for those who consider themselves smart.
For a change, I propose that a new crop of young idealistic people should take it upon themselves to take a shot at careers in the civil service. Of course the question arises: how would they land such a job even if they are so ‘unambitious’ as to think of a career in the civil service of all places. As a bastion of nepotism, you would need to be connected to some oversized egos to land a position even as a clerk. The robustness of your resume counts for less and nobody gives a hoot about the skills set that you wield.
There are a few seemingly insurmountable odds to a place in the civil service. Landing a job there might require joining a political party. Even if you do not share their values, the end for you might justify the means. It could mean writing a convincing letter to your representatives at the house of assembly; understudying government projects with a view to proffering alternatives and leading practices; it might involved seeking an audience with a director to pitch your ideas. An idealistic young person is a rarity these days and like a golden fish one would be spotted on close contact.
The intent of this intervention is to make a clarion call for idealism; one that demands that young people dream for change and seek to live out their dream; idealism that questions the status quo with a view to debunking deep-seated myths peddled by the establishment. I am strongly convinced that the future of Nigeria hinges on the entry of a new crop of brilliant, idealistic young men and women into the civil service. And Lest you ask if I am taking the lead and walking the talk that you think harebrained, I hasten to say that this piece was impelled by idealism in the first place.
Eyinade Adedotun blogs at http://tinwatinwa.blogspot.com/
Image by Matt Wardman
