MARIAM Adamson’s story is pathetic. Born in 1988, her
education was very fast because she was given double
promotions in her primary and secondary schools
because of her uncommon intelligence.
She soon got admission at 16 to study Agriculture in
Moore Plantation, Ibadan where she graduated with
Upper Credit and moved to Federal University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) to study Animal
Nutrition in 2008.
Her intelligence came to play when she wrote her first
examination in FUNAAB and her name was posted on
the school notice board as wanted for malpractice due to
her performance.
She was made by the school authority to defend her
written examination which she did without much effort.
Again she got a standing ovation from her supervising
and external professors on the day she defended her
final project.
Mariam Adamson, as expected soon graduated from the
university with a first class in 2011 but until now, she is
at home applying for jobs, attending interviews without
any success.
She expressed her disappointment at the University for
not treating her specially.
According to her, “I decided to do a Masters programme
when the university did not offer me anything but the
tenure of the then new Vice Chancellor, Professor
Olusola Bandele Oyewole saw to an increase in school
fees which I couldn’t afford. I had to defile my Masters
Programme when again I wasn’t offered the opportunity
to continue.”
Asked what she has been doing since then, she said: “I
have been applying for every job offer online but none of
them called. These four years has been really bad,
sitting at home, applying, waiting, hoping, it has being
terrible.”
She said it is frustrating not being able to do what she
practised after four years. “I graduated at a very young
age with first class. I was respected by my classmates
and lecturers but it didn’t take me anywhere because I
have not got the opportunity to prove myself.
“I started to feel as if I shouldn’t have graduated with a
first class. As if I shouldn’t have read as much as I did. I
began to understand why many students don’t bother to
read. I cannot even afford to do a Master’s Programme,
let alone a PhD which has always been my dream. Any
job I apply for, they ask for as much as 10 years
experience and the only experience I have is my NYSC
experience.”
She added that she had a five year dream. “I wanted to
work for two years, have enough finance to start my
own farm and make it big by the end of the fifth year but
all the dream has gone down the drain as four years has
gone by.”
Okonkwo Theresa, a 2012 first class graduate of the
University of Lagos was so happy to assist this reporter
with information because she believes that after this
publication somebody will assist her with a job.
She said, “I have been doing any job that comes my way.
I am assisting my uncle’s friend who has a small office
right now. Since I graduated in 2012, I have not done
any professional job even as I read accounting and I
never got an offer from the university.”
Asked how it has been, she said it has not been easy at
all. “I have applied for ICAN; I want to be chartered
because I know it will help me when I finally get a job.”
On how far she went job hunting, she said: “I applied for
many jobs and even went to write a test with KPMG but
didn’t meet the final stage. Another firm I went to called
two people who didn’t graduate with a first class and
when I spoke with them they said they know someone in
the organisation.”
Recalling the day she graduated, she said that day she
told herself that she would work in an audit firm but
when it didn’t work out she tried banks. “I will like to be
in a financial organisation,” she said.
For Olagoke Kehinde Olalere also a 2011 first class
graduate of FUNAAB, when he didn’t hear from his
school and got to know that they would only get jobs
when a vacancy is announced, he decided to apply for
his second degree.
“That is the only thing I have had the opportunity to do
with the hope that I will will get a job after I graduate. I
believe that an additional certificate will help me get a
job.
According to him, it was a decision from the beginning in
school to graduate with a first class so it took a lot of
sleepless nights and reading with hope that graduating
with first would give him a upper hand over his
colleagues but when he applied to many companies and
no one called him, he applied for a Masters Programme.
“I heard that in some schools including FUNAAB, first
class graduates get jobs as they graduate but the case
wasn’t so with our set as there was a change of
government so it was cancelled. That left us
disappointed.”
Asked if he is very sure to get employed after his second
degree, the Animal Nutrition graduate said: “No, and we
have asked our lecturers, they are also looking forward
to the management changing their decision. They did
not say no employment for first class graduates, they
brought up a policy that positions in every department
should be opened and made competitive instead of just
employing first class but up till now, no position has
been opened for application. It was also during this
period that Masters Programme school fee was
increased so many first class graduates could not come
back for their Masters Programme.”
For Foyeke Akinfenwa whose mother and siblings
supported through school with the hope that she will
repay them in future, when she was posted to the Osun
State Ministry of Agriculture to serve, she thought she
would be retained.
“I read Animal breeding and genetics in FUNAAB and
graduated with a first class. I studied in Moore
Plantation Ibadan where I graduated with Upper credit
and moved to FUNAAB to join the 300 level students.
“Since I graduated I have not got any jobs. After I
finished school, I served but I wasn’t retained so I
started searching for jobs but when I didn’t get any, I
decided to do a Masters programme which I am still
doing.”
In her search for a job, Foyeke confessed to have fallen
into the hands of fake job recruiters.
Asked how she feels now, she said, “I feel very bad that
after four years I have nothing to show that I graduated
with first class. I can’t even encourage my younger ones
to do well in school because they are not looking up to
me.
“It is discouraging. This is the reason why students don’t
read much; they don’t care about academics. They are
not motivated anymore because they can count their
finger for people that have gotten job after graduating
with good result.
“It is affecting the quality of students we are graduating.
People feel once they have connections, they don’t need
to read, she said.”
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