We need some information to help us reassess our lives.Even though we have set targets,it's good to have a performance check mechanisms.
I am at countryside presently and things I saw confounded me.My thoughts built up to the point I had a headache. There were countless unanswered questions in my mind.
The things that bothered me include the rate at which young girls get marry.These are not teenage girls,but rather than pursue tertiary education,they got pregnant.Some have argued that staying late to marry has both physical and psychological disadvantage .I don't wholly subscribe to this anyway but society does encourage it. When a girl fails to advance his ambition in life,it put them in a disadvantaged position economically .If a girl is not learning a trade,she should get better education .I saw evidence of these in girls getting married to second or third husbands before they are 28.Some with four to five kids at that age.
And what does the boys do? They are the husbands of these girls.There are those that have up to three wives at 28.This trend is what made me to conclude that it has become a norm.
Shockingly however,most of these 'young husbands' have put up structures where they house their families are not doing much lucrative business but have learnt a trade or the other and mastered it. Some of them are wise and did good with proceeds from their enterprise I learnt of one,who had built two bungalow in town working assiduously.He didn't have education beyond secondary school or college.
Coming to the city, as a big brother to some of those I met at home,I began to worry.In my small room in the countryside,I kept rolling on my old bed.I had a check on my life and that thousands of young men like me that had disregarded the pressure to marry early and face further education .I work as a 'big oga' in a manufacturing company. Many of us dress smartly to the office inside company cars. We stay inside air conditional all through the day and come back home. The home is a rented apartment. Some are not married with kids and no wife.
Some of us love our jobs so much,we put in extra hours yet there are no extra pays. Landlord is waiting for a cut of your salary,NEPA is coming with electric bill,water bill has been pasted on the gate of your flat. The bill for waste disposal is not ready but it will surely come. You may not go out of your street if your house is owing for vigilante security.When you are bored by activities of the week and the need for relaxation after horrible traffic of the city, you can go to see a film at the cinemas.And all these get a share each of your salary,how much can you save to build a home of your own?
The rate of unemployment is so high and I have to keep my job. I have second university degree and am hard working .I have sacrificed all to get here. Is it worth the effort? Back home, the way to go is to learn a trade or business. Amazingly all trades have associations. They all have a way of recruiting people leaving primary schools to join their trade with support of the parents or guidance. A cousin of mine as young as he is was said to be planning to complete a small house he is building. The type of trade he leant is called is so easy to learn that it was no trade to me.
I don't know what city has done for me. Another cousin has invited me to his house to celebrate the addition to his family as I write. There are demerits in lifestyle and acceptance in the countryside but what hope do we have in city life? Quality education is good but by mounting joblessness we have relegated it to the background. Coming home,I look polished,well dressed,exposed, a family pride and very different. What else has my education and city life given me? If I must truly confess, I was close to tears. Perhaps my standard for success might be faulty, but if all I can bring home is what I mentioned above,then something is definitely faulty.
Let me pull my small traveling bag,put on something nice and set out to honour the invitation.Hmmmm.
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