I got this rather disturbing picture by e-mail today. Here's the text of the mail:
ONE SOLID REASON TO THANK GOD FOR YOUR JOB!
INTERCONTINENTAL BANK TEST SOME WEEKS BACK IN IKEJA
I actually saw them that day at Ikeja....... ..I was amazed!!
No, it’s not a political rally, neither is it a Refugee Camp nor did it happen in Rwanda .
It is very much a “Nigerian Thing”.
It's a picture of applicants scrambling to write an Employment Test @ Fototek Plaza, Opebi Ikeja, Lagos. Nigeria .
Police had to disperse the mammoth crowd with teargas!
What more can one say? I was feeling a little tired today when I got to work ( I worked from last week, straight through the weekend to today, Monday). But this perked me right up.
If we have so many people on the street struggling to get legitimate jobs, is it a wonder then that the crime rate is so high? That we are well known for our 419 skills?
We need prayers in this country.
Okay, there are tons of applicants vying for not enough jobs. This particular picture though has been doctored. LOL. The Fototek plaza on Opebi isnt that big and its right on the road...Literally. There is barely enough packing space let alone space for this mob. Looking closely at the picture, i can see where some work has been done on it....
ReplyDeleteI live in Lagos and heard absolutely nothing about this. This would surely have made news...
The underlying point is legitimate though. We have too many unemployed people in our system: those that genuinely cant find work and those that just dont want to work. And this needs to be addressed.
LOL! aMAZING
ReplyDeleteMenh! I hope that picture is not doctored cos its pathetic....its really say this much ppl looking for a few vacant postion...thats sad!
ReplyDelete@ Uzo: Hey you! You may be right about the doctored photo.I had actually suspected that but failed to mention it. However, I can personally say that I have seen this sort of crowd at an employment test before. It was about 4 years ago and I got a letter from Central Bank to come for an aptitude test at Trade Fair Complex. Mammoth does not begin to dscribe the crowd there. I ran into people that I had not seen in YEARS. It was as though Nigeria poured out to write the test. And we were all amazed at the fact that the same test was being held in different regions of the country as well. That did not make the news, I assure you. Again, you are very correct about how this problem neds to be addressed.
ReplyDelete@mona: You can say that again!
@Naijadude: I can assure you that there are even more people than are depicted in this picture chase after vacant positions. These will be the ones that have a University Degree (most banks do not even bother to shortlist those that went to polytechnics). I see huge crowds around Ilueju when the manufacturers there advertise for factory personnel.
Please tell me that this picture is not for real. It's unbeliveable
ReplyDelete@PTS: I cannot guarantee that this picture was not doctored, but I can assure you that I have with my own eyes seen this kind of crowd at more than one aptitude test. My friend who went for a Globacom test at P/H said that so many people crashed the test, they needed police men to control the crowd. She eventually entered for the test by passing through a broken pane in the glass door. This was about 3-4 years ago. Try to imagine how many people have graduated from school since that time. A lot of them are still in the labour market. Unbelievable? Nah, we'll just put this down to truth being stranger than fiction.
ReplyDelete@belle: I agree that we need new leaders. However, I want to amend that to read that we need leaders that will actually do what they are supposed to do. I am hoping that will actually happen in my time.
@ONB: You said it, girl!
I would like to say that half of the people at the test actually have jobs, perhaps more than half,so its not just about no jobs, its also about job dissatisfaction. in my head and around me, some of your own colleagues may have been there. I also think that Intercontinental bank is more to blame than the government,they know the number of people they invited for the tests, they should have made provision for them. i have attended P&G tests and it was very organised and they may have had a larger crowd,also been at another crowd test where we were served snacks and drinks, it all depends on how much respect we have for the next being.
ReplyDelete