COLLEGE

What colleges have you attended?

A tender little mind with optimism,

Hoping to win the world by going to college,

On the last cadre of high school,

We all aim at gaining admission to the best of our local colleges,

Not because we so much appreciated studies,

But because we have been indoctrinated

that going to college earns us the treasure island,

Where wealth is magical and fortune is automatic,

We have not a thought for skill acquisition,

All we wanted was a certificate upon graduation,

Little did we knew that the reality of our world varies from just a certificate earn from college,

So I joined the wagons of admission seekers,

After much attempt in the space of five years,

I got admitted into Obafemi Awolowo University,

Just to study Geography Education,

Four years course was soon ended,

Yet the quest for higher certificate kept increasing,

Then I picked up a masters program in University of Ibadan,

Sooner than expected, a master degree was added to my certification,

Yet without any skill acquisition apart from college certificates.

The reality is here,

The world is practically not for paper certification carriers

Only the sharp ones with desirable skills found the treasure island,

As against our indoctrination in the age of dark orientation.

With all our college certificates,

Here we are struggling to get the crumbs,

Employers need skills not paper,

Colleges are good and fine with philosophical thoughts,

But they will be better when sellable skills are added to thoughts and philosophies,

Just few percent of Harvard graduates could locate the treasure island,

Graduates of London business school are not all business tycoons,

Name and prestige of our colleges could not afford us our desired luxuries,

Just a sellable skill outside the confine of our colleges can give us more.

Our world is no more confined in the four corners of a classroom,

Our world seeks opportunities even on a dunghill,

Where waste materials can be transformed into useable.

The name of my college matters less,

The productivity of the skills acquired makes fortune.

I suggest a modification of curriculum,

To give an allowance for basic and technical skill acquisition,

That our graduates will be skillfully seasoned,

And our streets will be less of job seekers.

Especially to my local world in Africa,

Where college certificates have little or no place in the labour world.