I took ‘grass-cutting’ job in the US when my Msc scholarship fund wasn’t flowing again – Idris Bello

This article was written by a good friend and one of the ‘Jarus eggheads’, Idris Ayodeji Bello, when he joined me in endorsing the Dangote Graduate Drivers scheme last year. – Jarus

WHY I ENDORSED DANGOTE GRADUATE DRIVERS SCHEME

Idris Bello

Idris holds a First Class degree in Computer Science from Obafemi Awolowo University and three Masters degrees from University of Texas, Rice University (both in US) and Oxford University (United Kingdom). He is one of the Jarus Eggheads.

Several years ago in Nigeria, I came across a job application, and in local parlance, the guy had begun the application with these words “I beg to apply for the job of …” I am sure some of you have also come across similar applications, and it is from that perspective that I choose to comment on the brouhaha concerning the plan by the Dangote Group to hire graduates into the Dangote Academy to become professional heavy vehicle drivers.

“What was he thinking of? The indignity! The shame! After four or more years within the walls of a University, Dangote expects me to work as a driver?”  The responses I have seen on this seemingly simple issue have ranged from the sensible to the ludicrous.

I will not attempt to reel out all the reasons why I think the idea is welcomed. Yes, I believe there is nothing wrong with it. A friend, Suraj Oyewale has already analysed the issues logically in the Tribune of Friday, August 10, 2012.  Let me quote him, “a lack of analytical review of policies and events, is at the root of the pervasive bolekaja criticism that has made public debate an exercise in waste of time and resources in Nigeria.”

Hence I choose to write from a perspective most of us rarely consider. I am putting myself in the shoes of the people who are directly affected. Trying to understand what it is that will make a graduate ‘stoop’ to the level of applying for the job of a driver.

Let me share with you a personal story.

A few years back, I had left a comfortable job in Nigeria for what I had imagined would be a fully-funded Master’s programme in the U.S, but surprisingly all my expected sources of funding suddenly dried up.

Armed with a first class degree in Computer Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, I had quickly begun looking for a temporary job during the summer to hold body and soul together. However, my job search was encumbered by two things; first, I was on a student visa, which meant I could only work for 20 hours weekly, and I did not have permission to work outside the campus.

Second, I had not managed to shake off my Nigerian accent in the six months I had been in the U.S. But those two facts did not stop me from trying.

I attended interview after interview, one written test followed another. I did not discriminate in the kinds of jobs I applied for. It ranged from applications to teach in Kaplan GRE classes, to jobs as a delivery guy for parcels on campus. I was interviewed for the position of an administrative clerk on the same day as I applied to work at a day-care.

I even considered cab driving, but without a commercial driving licence, even that was off-limits. If my culinary expertise had not been limited to boiling eggs and making eba, I would have applied for a job in a restaurant.

Just as I was about giving up, and few days after I had run out of the last five dollars I needed to buy a call card to call my folks back in Nigeria, I secured a job.

It was a job with a landscaping company. I joined other members of staff, mostly illegal immigrants from across the Mexican border in mowing lawns. But at this point, I had no choice.

I remembered I mowed large patches of grass while growing up in Nigeria. Not the kind of manicured lawns that abound in Houston. Rather it was the kind of grass we called ‘stubborn’ grass or ‘elephant’ grass; tall wicked patches of grass. I had no fear of wielding the cutlass again if that was what it required to make some money legally while I waited for school to start again in Fall.

However, there were some problems I did not think off. First, no one used cutlasses here. I had to learn how to trim grass using string trimmers. Being the most junior and inexperienced member of staff, I was also responsible for using the forced air from the blowers to blow leaves or debris into piles after the day’s work , before  packing them into large black refuse bags we always carried for that purpose.

After some weeks on the job, and with the addition of some new employees, I was to move up the lawn-mowing chain. I started using the gasoline-powered mower to cut the lawn, and also became responsible for giving the flowers a nice manicure. I no longer had to blow refuse, or use the string trimmer.

However, what made this even more difficult was that it was summer in Houston. Temperatures above a hundred degrees Fahrenheit (close to forty degrees Celsius) were normal.  And day in, day out, I was out there each day, in the hot sun, from sunrise till sunset. All for a paltry daily salary of $40!

Why? Because I needed a job!

And that is what a lot of folks who have cried themselves hoarse on this Dangote issue do not understand. When you are at that point, it is no longer about a ‘befitting’ job. The so called ‘dignity’ that makes you think you are above the job of a truck driver because you have spent five years moving from one university lecture hall to another, sometimes without absorbing anything, will not pay your transport fare from Oshodi to Ojota! Neither will it buy a recharge card for your fiancée!

A few years ago, a friend of mine in Nigeria could not find a job despite having a Master’s degree from the University of Ibadan. She had to resort to teaching at a ‘private’ secondary school in Lagos for a paltry salary of N6000 which barely covered her transport fare. Today, she is a lecturer in a Federal institution. But at that point, she did what she had to do!

I am a big advocate for people creating their own opportunities and not waiting to seek employment, but I am also realistic that not everyone is cut out for that. And I also think the habit of thinking some jobs or professions are beneath a graduate is the same pride that does not allow a lot of graduates to become entrepreneurs. They think they are too educated to run a restaurant or a food delivery service, or worse even, a sanitation business! Several of my colleagues in graduate school in the U.S worked in stores and shopping malls during their undergraduate years doing jobs that Nigerians would have considered ‘below’ them, learning skills that proved to be useful later in life!

Now, I also believe most of the people arguing against the Dangote’s job offer, have not read the vacancy notice from the company. He has not made being a university graduate a condition for hiring. All he has done is to include B.Sc. holders along with NCE, OND, HND, holders in the list of those who could apply.

Do they wish he had excluded the millions of jobless university graduates from applying for a job that will pay a N50,000 salary? How many other jobs in Nigeria pay that kind of salary without the requirement that one must not be older than 23 years, must be in a second class upper bracket, with five years of experience?

I know many people who hide their degrees when applying for jobs meant for first school leavers and OND holders. When you have a country with millions of graduates and very few jobs, even PhD holders will write aptitude tests to drive trucks! Let Dangote be!

Don’t forget to vote Jarushub as Nigeria’s Career Blog & Overall Blog of the Year