In the part of Africa where I come from, there are designated market days. In pre-colonial and post-colonial days, the calendars were different and in every four days came a market day. The arrival of the market day brings joy to everyone, young and old, buyer or seller, they all knew they'll be better off than the previous day, since it was also a day in which the produce from different farms exchange ownership, and money by extension exchanges hands, and those who were in need of food and/or other items will have their wants and needs satisfied.
Right from those days, the market day has been "The moment of truth". That special day where produce from various farms test wits, both in size, quality and quality. The farmer with the best output earned the most, and ends up with the fattest purse. It was was nobody's business how he went about his produce.
These days the markets have changed a lot. It has expanded to contain not only farm produce but household, industrial articles to mention but a few. Not only has its product base increased, its days have also increased from a one day affair to an everyday affair and its product base increased to include services offered directly by humans and even machines. This notwithstanding, the rewards for quantity and quality still holds securely its place.
Bringing our country into the equation lots of things come to mind. A couple of days of days back I was in a British Curriculum school in Abuja to render some services and something struck me as though it was my first time. I have been to a couple of British Curriculum schools and international schools but on this particular occasion watching the students while doing my business, all of a sudden it occurred to me that all ends in the same market. There seem to be a predominant pattern. From age one, those children have begun to interact with computers, children’s programs on subscribed tv channels, they play with i-pads, they know Pinocchio, ben 10, all the major comics, they already know that behind every puppet is a puppeteer. At age five they have read more books than some adults have done their lifetime) and by the time they are in Junior secondary class one, they are on the average two years ahead of their peers academically.
By the time they are through with secondary school, most proceed to the US or UK for their degree programs while the others whose parents may be too strict to allow go abroad would continue in universities like American University of Nigeria, covenant university, Redeemers, Bowen, Bells and the likes of them. Far away from strike actions that could result in the number of years they are expected to be in universities to be extended.
From there, all proceed for master’s degree and the brilliant ones continue to doctorate level. Their career path had been mapped out and is usually followed judiciously.
But permit me to tell you of another set of people, most of whom had no one to plan their future, they had to experiment with life itself, grope in the darkness of ignorance, fumble and often fail before they are able to locate their bearing. Most of them usually get convinced by their parents especially the firstborn males to learn a trade in order to support the family and train their younger ones. Some other lucky ones had to manage to go through primary school. They fail again and again since they have no idea why they were in school in the first place. Some would eventually prefer to stay with mum in her shop and hoard some money as they service customers. The only consolation for the school thingy was the friends they attended it together. By the time SSCE is over, some others could not endure it anymore and had to drop, find something else doing, lessen dad and mum’s burdens and maybe try out a trade. Others who managed to go through the community school, at age ten, they still learn the English name of things and animal, by having the names translated to English from their local dialect. Some of these people would manage, by hook, crook or any means to make their ways to citadels of higher learning like Enugu State University, Ekiti State University, OSU etc. passing through untold difficulties, days on end without food, missing scripts and spending two to three extra years for strike’s sake and another two years waiting for NYSC to call. By his time the man has gone past 27 is fast approaching the NYSC exemption age.
And finally, all come to the same market. But then everyone comes in his or her different uniform. While Mr. Poor and middleclass is coming in far older, having forgotten most of what they have been taught in school, Mr. Rich is coming in fresh with a master’s degree from UK armed with enough information to convince a panel of interviewers of his true worth.
So they apply for the same job and the employer emphatically states that he would only need ages less than 25. Mr. rich is 22 and has a master’s degree, but all ends in the same market.
Even though our markets were large and lots of people troop the market, not all home come to buy or sell. Some have come to buy, other have come to sell, some too came for sight-seeing. The typical African market is often an eventful scene to cast a glance on. Somehow we seem to forget that after people have gone to school they end in a market, a real world where you are expected to get a job.
In reality, we are our own bosses. We are responsible for our lives and if for the sake of the government, or some people we decide to spend the developmental part of our lives living in denial, then we may have to spend the rest of our days reaping the deadly effect. The laws of nature may be broken but not without consequences. Irrespective of who you are, or where you are, if you jump up, you must come back down. And if you jump from a fourteen story building simply because you are angry that the government has not provided the basic amenities you would otherwise have needed to become a better person, the fact that you did it in anger over the poor performance of the government can never stop you from or save you from the unforgiving cold hard concrete floor hundreds of feets below.
At the end, when everyone faces the real world, the question becomes how well do you know how to do what you do? The guy that left after secondary school to become a trader in Oshodi market would not be asked by his customers why he dropped out or if has any regrets. They would expect maximum customer satisfaction from the services or sales he offers. The mechanic that dropped out in primary three because his father died and had nobody to train him would never get preferential treatment from his customers because he suffered such fate. He would remain in business as long as the services he renders his customers are of such good quality that they are able to come back again. The young man who finally graduated from university at age 28 after losing extra three years to incessant strike actions and missing scripts amidst untold difficulties we went through would not tell the interview his story. All the interviewer wants to know is: is he qualified for the job? If in the course of time he has forgotten most of the things he was thought, he may need divine intervention to get a job. Even master’s degree certificate holders who studied in the UK have not all got good jobs yet, talk more of a bachelor’s degree holder who doesn’t even remember the smallest definition or application of what he read.
In the end all come to the same market, but the market would not ask after your story, it would only request result. Except your God is with you... *Deep Sigh* aal iz well!
Credits: Ifeanyi Igbokwe.
Forewords: TW™