As a first-class graduate from the University of Ibadan’s department of History, the potentials are there. I believe the opportunities are going to come sooner or later. But even at that, the economic realities are dire. The fact that I didn’t do a professional course makes me feel like I have to add something to what I studied. That’s the struggle.
I finished school in February this year. History was my first degree. Although before coming to the University of Ibadan, I studied Mass Communication at the Polytechnic Ibadan, but due to – will I say – financial struggle, I didn’t collect my certificate. I couldn’t afford to pay my ND 2 fees back in 2018; that’s why they didn’t process my result. Everything then was, I think, 90,000 or 100,000 Naira.
History was my first choice when I applied to the University of Ibadan. My motivation for choosing History is that I actually like the course. I love reading, and it was one of the things I considered. There are two of us in my set with a first class, and I am the best graduating student. Actually, during my four-year sojourn, I didn’t have any cause to doubt or think I should have chosen another course. It was something I enjoyed studying. It’s just the economic realities of this country that are giving me concern that, okay, I should probably just find a skill.
I’m thinking of spreading my tentacles into the corporate world and seeing how that works out. So my plan for NYSC is to look for a PPA in that sector. I might be posted to a university, but my plan is not to stay there because I do not have any dream of becoming a lecturer. Me not wanting to go into academia is due to the existential reality of the lecturers around me. They give so much and they receive so little. Do you get? In an alternate world, if the economy were okay, I would prefer going into academia because that would give me a lot of freedom to engage in other things.
So many moments led to this decision. Even judging with the state of the school facilities – that’s one of the indices of how bad it is. The lecturers teach and expect you to know everything at once, because they are doing so many things, teaching in so many schools. So many instances, so many instances. They are always stressed, like they are barely surviving. I have this lecturer who was forced to tell us how much he earned in 2023. He was trying to tell us why we should not condemn ASUU for going on strike every now and then, that he was a Dr and he was taking home, in his words, then, 215,000 Naira, and a professor, he said, was earning 415,000. Out of that 215,000, they would remove tax, housing allowance and all. So his take-home was not even taking him home. He was just living from hand to mouth, from paycheck to paycheck. So, it was then that it dawned on me that it was that bad. It was then I knew, naaah, this is not for me.
My experience in the STEM industry has been … eventful. Let me put it that way. I have dipped my hands into so many things. My first attempt was data analysis. It was during the eight-month strike in 2021. Although starting out, it seemed simple, by the time I got into the rigour of it, I figured out this was not for me. I had good knowledge of mathematics when I was in secondary school, but it stopped there. I was not so grounded in mathematics again because I focused on the humanities. When I started learning Python as part of data analysis, I said, omo, this is not for me. I picked up UI/UX and paid another 30,000 again. After doing that for three weeks, the way the lecture was going, it was like I was just wasting my transport fare, wasting everything. I was not even feeling it. I had to stop again. It was when I graduated that I decided to give it another try, so now I’m doing the UI/UX again. I think I now have time to devote to it to some extent. At least, I am learning it at my own pace now. So it’s a much better experience than my first two attempts.
I wouldn’t even bother myself if I got a great offer. It feels like I’m dissipating my energy. On the one hand, I’m trying to look for scholarships and increase my academic publications, and I have deadlines. Me trying to learn tech, on the other hand, is like something else entirely. In an ideal world, I wouldn’t even venture into tech, let alone learning UI/UX. It’s because of the whole degeneration in society now that you have to learn ten things at a time before you can even make a living. In an ideal world, I wouldn’t bother myself by venturing into tech. I wouldn’t bother at all.
Growing up was not that easy. I grew up in a – you can call it a slum, but it depends on who is seeing it. I grew up around Molete, Ibadan. My dad is a part-time pastor. He also sells planks. My mom is a – let’s say she’s a grocery seller; just small-scale. So, growing up in this Nigeria has been tough. It has been tough. But one thing that keeps me going is that I’ve been an A student right from time, going by my trajectory, from my primary school days. I have been brilliant – because if I don’t toot my horn, there’s nobody that is going to toot it for me. That has been the propeller for me, a big one at that. Since that time, I believe there is this expectation of me that I have to make something out of my life. It has been a lonely one, growing up and all, but where there is a will, there is always going to be a way.
As narrated by: DELLY BELOVED (IBADAN, NIGERIA)
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