CREDENTIAL VS POTENTIAL One thing that has killed the productivity of many Nigerian graduates and put them permanently on the unemployment queue is the excessive emphasis and dependence on paper (academic) qualification at the expense of potentials. Credential is good, but in this present economic time your credential alone might not sustain you in the real world. If you depend solely on the fact that you graduated with a good grade, then you might end up frustrated in life. This over-dependence on credentials has (so much) affected the youths that most of them do not care to know if they posses any abilities that could be developed into a career, all they care about is how to go to school, graduate and then join the unemployment queue in search of unavailable white collar jobs. This tradition is a major cause of graduate joblessness in the country; graduates that are supposed to develop their potentials and use them to affect humanity are busy moving from one company to another submitting CVs and hoping to get a job. On a practical note, it is not your credential that matters but your competence and ability to carry out tasks. A result-focused employer is not really concerned with what you graduated with, but his interest is on whether you have what it takes to move his organization forward. I believe school should be a place where potentials and talents are refined and developed, and not merely a place for acquiring paper qualifications. Paper without potential makes you a liability, which is why there are lots of graduates with papers that are liabilities. If you want to work in the bank it shouldn’t be because you are a graduate of Banking and Finance or Business Admin, but it should be because you have the potential to deliver as a banker and not just another employee. If you are just ‘another employee’ you will be sacked or retrenched in no time. Let me tell you the truth; there are academic bankers as well as talented bankers. An academic banker only adds to the bank’s payroll, with very little contribution to the Bank’s growth; while a talented banker is one whose potential is able to impact to a large extent, on the bank’s growth. The talented banker is an asset to the bank, and they are the ones that climb faster on the corporate ladder. The difference between the academic and talented banker is in their level of intelligence. Intelligence here doesn’t refer to having good grades in school or being able to cram long theories. “Intelligence is the ability to provide practical solutions to practical problems”. So, our talented banker here is one that is intelligent enough to provide practical solutions to practical banking problems. He depends on potential, natural intelligence and abilities unlike the academic banker whose strength is just on his paper qualification. People like Jim Ovia and Tony Elumelu, former CEOs of Zenith Bank and UBA respectively, are intelligent bankers. They could never have risen to their positions merely because of their paper qualifications. Though I’ve used banking as an illustration, it also applies to other fields-Technology, engineering, business etc. Majority of mechanical engineering graduates cannot fix a car engine, while most mechanics are not graduates of any university or polytechnic. Most of the so-called Mechanical engineering graduates just have their heads filled with formulas and theories which have turned their heads into warehouses of unproductive information. Don’t deceive yourself; it is not about what you know, but what you can do with what you know. Would you hire someone to fix your car just because he is a graduate or because he can actually fix the car perfectly? Life is about delivering value. It is this credential-mindedness that has affected the economy of the country negatively. Why can’t we develop our potentials like the Americans, Japanese, Chinese or Indians? A large number of the major corporations owned by Americans were started while the founders were still in school; companies like Microsoft, Dell, and Facebook were started in school, likewise Google and Yahoo which were actually research works. These entrepreneurs were able to achieve this feat because they concentrated on their potentials and abilities and not just on their academic credentials. There should be a massive shift from job search to job creation as witnessed in America, Japan, China and India. Our focus as youths and graduates shouldn’t be in what we studied in school or the grade we graduated with, but on what we can do. Concentrate more on your potential and its development than on your academic credential. I don’t like talking much about the government, but I think they have a part to play in this transition, by encouraging talents and entrepreneurs. The enabling environment should be created and funds should be made available for startups in the country. The SURE-P programme should be focused on youth entrepreneurship, with funds taken out of it to support startups in a very transparent manner. This will encourage youths to explore their creativity and bring out ideas that will shake Africa and the world. Nigerian youths are intelligent and ingenious; all we need is just a little support and encouragement. Let SURE-P focus on youth empowerment and see where the country will be in just 5 years. If I am saying you should focus more on your potential than your credential, does it mean I’m against acquiring degrees? Heavens no! Going to school and becoming a graduate is a good thing, but I’d like you to understand that there is a difference between ‘Schooling’ and ‘Education’. Education is the general process of knowledge acquisition and self-development, while schooling is just a subset or aspect of education. It is actually possible to be educated through other means like ‘self-thought’, apprenticeship and experience; in fact there are lots of successful people in the world today that are self thought. They never passed through any formal school system, while some even dropped out of school (e.g. Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison of Oracle Corporation). While I was in the university studying Chemistry, I realised that most of the Text books my lecturers were using to lecture me were written by people who were NOT graduates, and some even had only weeks of formal education-they were self-thought. Also, most of the theories we were taught were propounded by these same ‘unschooled’ men; in fact someone like John Dalton, who is a major authority in the study of Atom, had just weeks of formal education. This is to tell you that it is not necessarily about academic credential but about your potential, creativity and determination to succeed in life and make impact. If you were able to go to school and now you are a graduate, I say congratulations. But one thing you should know is that there is more to being educated than just ‘schooling’. It is actually possible to be schooled and still be uneducated; there are lots of “uneducated graduates” in Nigeria. They are schooled but not educated. I call them “uneducated graduates” because although they are schooled, they just have their heads filled with all manner of things which they crammed in order to pass their examinations. Outside the examination hall, they are liabilities because they don’t even understand the courses and their application to real life. They were only interested in passing exams so they knew just enough to get the grades. That is not education! While in School and after graduating, you should embark on the journey of self-development by reading non-academic materials such as motivational/self-help books, profiles and biographies of successful individuals, Magazine, general information, news, etc. It is not all those theories you learn in school that would sustain you in real life, especially if you are a graduate of certain science disciplines from some of our Universities, where students are not put through practical education. The real world is a jungle where you are not placed in a class and then given examinations at the end of every semester; life is more practical with lots of obstacles, challenges and battles to be fought. Schooling shouldn’t just be an avenue for you to acquire degrees, but you should use the opportunity of schooling to discover yourself and develop your potentials. I used my University days to develop my writing skills, business intelligence and consulting skills. It’s not unusual for your potential to be different from what you studied in school; imagine a comedian studying Chemistry in the University; a graduate of medicine becoming a musician (Dr Sid); a graduate of Chemistry becoming a successful entrepreneur and founder of an internet company (Jason Njoku of iROKO TV). Most of the times, it’s not what you actually studied in school that matters, but what you can do. I studied Chemistry in the university but today I do business consulting, develop business proposals and business plans for people; I write; and I also run a Computer & Internet services company. That’s what potential can do. My advice to you is never to allow your potential die, but look out for ways to develop it and build a career out of it or blend it with what you studied in school. Developing and living on your potential would give you satisfaction. If you are supposed to be a Lecturer in one of the Universities exploring your teaching potential, but rather you forced yourself into a banking job, you might not find satisfaction there. And when you don’t find satisfaction in what you do, you don’t put in your best, and when you don’t put in your best, your productivity suffers and consequently, your chances of rising through the ranks. If you wake up on a Monday morning and you suddenly feel ill just at the thought of going to work, then that’s a clue that you are in the wrong career. Don’t allow your credential to kill or hinder your true potential from being expressed. Do you want my candid advice as a fellow graduate? This is it! Develop your potential and either look for a job or create one that relates to it. -Donald Yusuf
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 04:10:53 +0000