No be me...

Lately, I have come to realize the importance of education and God's grace in this life. I know a lot of people with whom I grew up in the same area and now the difference between them and I is as clear as crystal, just because they only managed to finish secondary school either due to laziness or lack of funds. Many of them opted to learn a trade while some just stayed at home. I am so thankful to God that my parents gave me an opportunity to go to school. When our parents used to tell us to work hard when we were young, we thought they were being too harsh but now we know better.

Some other people furthered their education but went to colleges of education and polytechnics. It is a sad reality that Nigerian employers still discriminate against graduates from the aforementioned institutions. Some also finished from universities, but managed to finish with pass. So secondly, I thank my parents for making sure I went to university and I thank God for giving me the grace to finish with good results.

Some people went to universities and finished with average results but could not get a good job on time or at all, maybe because they could not pass job aptitude tests or could not defend their results or for whatever reasons that I cannot explain. The standard of education has really fallen in Nigeria. Only the federal universities are seriously trying to maintain good standard of education, but the peanuts the government is paying lecturers is not making it easy for them at all. Anyway, for this, I thank God for giving me a good paying job immediately after graduation.

I have been thinking of writing this post for a while, but what made me actually take the step is that I went to the office canteen sometime back and I looked up, only to see a former neighbour of mine. He was a classmate of my senior brother in primary school and we always came back home from school together. He later went to a boarding secondary school, I think he went to one of those eastern universities or polytechnics, I am not sure. Niways, we greeted each other well and I asked if he was working in the canteen, to which he replied in the affirmative. You see, he was working for the caterer and was about to pack the plates that my colleagues used to eat when I saw him. Here I was, a 'professional' in my own field being served and cleared after by my old school mate. Now, it is clear that it is just because of God’s grace that I am where I am right now but sometimes I fail to thank God.

I just thank God for his grace and mercy and for elevating me, because it is not by my power but by the Spirit of the Lord.