You Need A Skill By; Ajagbe .O. Blessing

                          You Need A Skill

By; Ajagbe .O. Blessing

Skill acquisition is the new oil. If there was one thing my dad kept buttressing on was that, I should learn a skill and the University I attended (Kwara State University) made us learn a skill and register a business. No matter the course you were studying, you just have to register a busines. Why did they make us do that? They made us register a business because in Nigeria if you don’t have your parents company or connections, it’s very hard to get a white collar job. I wish I took the skill acquisition more seriously when I was in school but unfortunately, I did not. I learnt a little bit of photography, sincerely, I did not really put my mind into it and so I lost interest in learning it. Right now I would have been making my money. (Wiping tears of regrets)

Most times, when you see a job advert, you will notice that they always look for someone who has at least two years experience in that field. I would always ask myself, where are the fresh graduates supposed to get two years or more? Is it while they were in school they would have been working? I know in some countries one can go to school and intern at their desired work place, I don’t think there are such opportunity for that here. It’s frustrating to be honest to know that after school and NYSC, there’s a slim chance of you getting that job you want and have to settle for something you never thought you’d be doing.

Learning a skill is a way of curbing unemployment. Once you have a skill that you’re good at, you’d save yourself the stress and headache of looking for a white collar job that you have a slim chance of getting. Learning a skill makes you the boss of yourself. I mean when you learn a skill, you’d be able to start your own company or business instead of working for someone else and awaiting to be employed. If you have a skill you love, then, why not learn it instead of waiting for a supposed white collar job? Don’t look the way, that alot of people doing this or there are many people doing that. If you love it, go for it. The most important thing is to learn how to brand yourself by doing things differently from the norm.

I think skill acquisition should be a subject taught in secondary schools. That way, young people will start acquiring their skills from a tender age. You don’t have to wait till you’re in the University before you start learning that skill and you don’t have to wait till you’re done with school before you start that business. Let me leave you with this quote by Dean Koontz.

“I really believe that everyone has a talent, ability, or skill that he can mine to support himself and to succeed in life”.

Ajagbe .O. Blessing is a corper serving in Kwara state and a member, Creative Writing SAED, NYSC.