A Graduate turned a truck driver at dangote.

Between the 1960s and early 1980s, when students finished from the few universities in existence with jobs waiting for them that time.

It was a continuation of the good times they had in school, where they did not have to take turns to use equipment in the laboratories, and libraries; they ate good meals in the cafeteria; and had comfortable hostels accommodations

Back then, in the labour market, their qualifications attracted a lot of fringe benefits, including housing and car loans, opportunities for foreign training and other prerequisites.

However, today, with the unemployment rate in our country Nigeria standing at 23.9 per cent, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), that bliss has virtually disappeared, existing only for a few graduates from well to do families, or extremely brilliant and intelligent students.

There are no accurate statistics on the number of graduates produced in the country by the universities and other tertiary institutions every year. However, with an estimated 300,000 being admitted, into the University system about the same number enter the labour market searching for blue collar jobs that do not come easy. The norm now is for graduates to apply for jobs they are over-qualified for.

That is why the response of 13,000 graduates, some of them with Master’s and Ph.D to the advertisement of Aliko Dangote Transport Company for truck drivers, has generated a lot of reactions and attentions.

The initiative, called The Drivers Academy, aims to recruit and train 2,000 graduates to become professional heavy vehicle drivers for the newly-established super fleet of the Dangote Group in Nigeria.

At a mentorship meeting of the World Bank Youth Forum recently held, the President of the Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, "said many graduates who applied for the jobs were more than qualified," however that they graduated from reputable tertiary institutions.

Of the 13,000 applications received, he said six were from Ph.D holders, 704, Master’s and 8,460 first degree of different reputable tertiary institution in the country.

“All these things are verifiable, and they all graduated from reputable institutions. And our plan is to eventually make them self dependent,” he said.

Of the number, the organisation now has the cumbersome task of rejecting about 93 per cent as it only needs 100 drivers.

If employed, he said, the drivers would get allowances for each trip, in addition to their salaries —N300,000 monthly. They will also have the opportunity to own the trucks at no interest or repayments after they must have covered 300,000 kilometres, which he said is about 140 trips from Lagos to Kano.

Ayobami Adewodun is one of those who hopes to reap from Dangote’s job window. He graduated from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, 2002. He worked briefly as an account officer in a private secondary school for four years where he earned N14,000 per month before quitting to join a plastic producing company which raised his pay to N20,000 monthly.

“Immediately I saw the (Dangote) advert" He said, I put in my CV,” Adewodun told our reporter. “I learnt the same advert first came out last year but I missed it so I decided to keep track of it this time.”

On whether he would not be ashamed as a truck driver, Ayobami said: “Why should I? This is a country that has no values for graduates. Education in our country no longer counts but how rich or comfortable you are. Let me give an illustration, one of my friends we finished together the same year lost his wife-to-be, who is a graduate, to one of the area boys working with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). I then wondered why the lady never felt she was a graduate before dumping my friend for an illiterate. Today, the lady is still married to the area boy and they have three kids. When I heard my friend’s experience, I decided it was about time I increased my take-home pay so my wife too won’t be snatched by someone who is richer.”

Mr Akanni Ogunniyi runs a Master in Business Administration (MBA) programme at the Lagos State University (LASU). Though he feels comfortable working for a notable public relations outfit in Ikeja, Lagos, if given an opportunity, however, Ogunniyi said he would not reject Dangote’s offer because of its mouth-watering pay.

“Though my monthly salary is about N130,000 and I enjoy my work but I won’t mind Dangote’s job, too. I know drivers will be asked to dress corporately, have good communications skill and we would not be treated like mere drivers because we are graduates. But, before I do that, I will ask my company to increase my pay. I can then decide to resign if that does not happen,” he said.

Experts in the academia and the labour market attribute the trend of graduates seeking positions they are over-qualified for to the harsh economic environment.

Mr Sinari Daranijo, CEO of Learn4change, an outfit that provides online distance learning platform for training in globally recognised certification programmes, said the difficult economic climate in Nigeria has made it difficult to appreciate the worth of higher qualifications.

“The economy is not ripe enough for over qualification. At this point in our economy, a BSc is almost like a secondary school certificate. But getting up to a Ph.D to become a truck driver is something else,” he said.

Rather than depend solely on qualifications earned in formal learning, Daranijo advised graduates to acquire vocational skills while still in school which could help them either run their own businesses or get jobs because of advancements in information communications technology.

“Only one to two per cent of graduates get graduate jobs. While getting your degree, it is best to get a vocational skill, let’s say in ICT or barbing, and others which can be useful after school,” he said.

Given that some unconventional jobs pay well, Daranijo also said graduates may be stimulated by the money to apply.

“The money could be the attraction. At the end of the day, people think in terms of the value. If the salary advertised is what they will pay, some people will leave their bank jobs for truck driving,” he said.

Mr Muyiwa Moyela, a PR consultant, agrees with Daranijo on the motive, which he described as neither wrong nor right.

“There is no wrong or right about it. If you are a manager somewhere earning N60,000 a month and someone is a driver earning N200,000, you can think of what you stand to gain driving a truck. It is a function of demand and supply. People demand for work and if they have the skills, they apply,” he said.

Dr Bukola Adedoyin of the English Department, LASU, believes Dangote’s pay package is tempting enough to lure anybody even in the academia. However, he added that except for those who acquired their Ph.D through the back door or in an irrelevant field, no academic worth his salt would stoop so low to trade his doctorate for a truck-driving job.

“Having a Ph.D is a thing of pride in the academia. You are not only respected in your country but around the world. So, I believe a lecturer who can defend his doctorate would not dump that certificate and take to driving no matter how tempting the pay package is.

“Today, we know that acquiring a Ph.D is no longer a question of intellectualism. We have a crop of Ph.D holders who got their certificate by being mere contractors who ran errands or became their supervisors’ drivers and house helps while doing their programnmes. Such people, I know, cannot defend their certificates. If today, the NUC is saying there is a dearth of Ph.D holders compared to the rising number of universities, especially private ones, I don’t think any Ph.D holder should remain jobless in Nigeria, today. It is for you the media to find out how those people Dangote mentioned got their Ph.Ds.

On the part of graduates and Master’s holders, however, Adedoyin agreed they might be tempted by what he said appears an irresistible carrot Dangote is dangling before their eyes.

“The prevailing level of poverty in the country is enough to make any graduate or Master’s degree holder abandon his CV to mount a truck for Dangote. In Nigeria, today, it is possible for you to have a first degree and Master’s and yet remain jobless or be underpaid. The system is so bad that the fact that you graduated as a medical student does not guarantee you immediate job.”

The Vice Chancellor, Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, Prof Solomon Ayanlaja, says he’s ready to suspend his credentials and mount the driver’s seat if he has no choice.

“Nigeria is a country that is not cerebral; where the illiterates live like kings while those who went through school hardly have nothing to show for it. This is a country where the society praises social miscreants and political thieves at the expense of those who toiled to acquire sound education. If as a doctorate degree holder, my take home pay is nothing encouraging, and personally I’m not sufficiently entrepreneurial to do more things to make ends meet, I will have no option than do any other jobs that may improve my welfare.”

Like Adedoyin, Ayanlaja also agrees that there are many who parade spurious certificates which make them unemployable. He also argued that many of them may have failed rigorous interviews conducted by blue-chip organisations in the past, noting that that may have pushed them to apply for a driver’s job to hide their shame.

“Recently, two people who claimed to be Ph.D holders from an American University applied for a teaching job in our university. I then googled the name of the university online only for me to discover that the institutions are profit-making ones. In America, if an institution is described as a profit-making alone, that means the degrees they award can’t stand the test of time, so I sent them away.

“Even in Nigeria, today, we have lots of ‘cash and carry’ certificates; thank God the NUC is clamping down on them now. But, overall, Nigeria as a nation is a slave trader. It is either you work with government or corporate organisations that pay better, otherwise, you end up working with an organisation owned by an individual or few individuals who are still struggling to survive in the business. So, from where do you expect him to pay you fact salary?

Kunle Lawal, a professor of History and International Studies at the University of Ibadan, lauded Dangote’s efforts in providing jobs for the army of jobless youths. However, he sees the situation as the disappearance of dignity of labour in a country once reputed for it.

“In this same country, in times past, people were satisfied with jobs that fitted their professional callings. But, today, people look for any job that will guarantee their survival even if they don’t derive fulfillment from it.

“Dangote also wants to employ sophisticated people as graduate drivers and not illiterates because he knows driving a truck requires specialised techniques. This new development will create a positive impression about truck driving by the society. But, I also feel these people may be used and over used and made useless by the time they are done.”