Giving back to my alma mater
I walked out of my office on thursday last week just as my boss walked out of his.
“Busayo, you are coming along abi?” he asked. “Where are we going?” I answered, looking bewildered
“To ife.” he responded. “When?” I asked, my face lightening up. “On saturday” he replied.
“Most definitely” I responded.
That was the dialogue that set me on a return journey to my alma mater. I graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in Dec. 2005 after 7 long years of studying a course that originally should have taken 5 years. I don’t want to go into the details of how it took so long but suffice it to say that I didn’t have any extra semesters. It just took them 7 years to be able to decide whether or not 1998/99 set could graduate. Anyway, that’s all past now and I’ve left the school.
So what brought this all up in the first place? A particular christian fellowship in the school was organising a seminar and wanted a few of us to speak. The seminar was actually designed for final year students who were wondering what career steps they’d be required to take once out of the university and how or why they should take the steps they eventually take. Eventually, four of us left Lagos for OAU as facilitators for the seminar. These are Gbolade Shoyemi (Chevron Nigeria Ltd.), Deolu Akinyemi, Ogho Emore, and yours sincerely.
We set out for Ile-Ife on Saturday morning and got to OAU in time to rest for about 30 mins before the programme kicked off. The seminar was billed to start at 3pm but it started at about 3.30pm. We had a panel of about 7 graduating students sit at a table in front of the hall and stand up one after the other to state their names and their intended career paths. One by one they started, some with confidence and coherent, others incoherent and shaky.
All together, just one of the girls was able to state her career path with clarity underlined by the passion with which she passed across her future plans. She had beautiful, well laid out plans with regards to her future and was willing to share them with anyone who asked. She also had a part about giving back to society by building and running a home for physically and mentally challenged kids. We, the facilitators were all very impressed with her clarity and told her as much. The energy with which she put forth her plans made you think they were workable and realistic. The only thing that seemed absent was that she hadn’t considered the “what ifs?”
One of the things that is very clear among youths either in or about to leave higher institutions have no intentional plans for what they want to do with their future. They can’t give you a comprehensive or coherent report of where they’ll be in 5 years. They lack the drive and passion necessary for winners. They already have a defeatist mentality with regards to what lies out there for them. They believe they’ll go out there, wait for and take whatever life throws their way. They believe that beggars have no choice and since they see themselves as beggars, they have no choice. They forget that even beggars have a choice of changing their profession if they so desire.
I remember the circumstances under which I graduated, I felt I was cheated out of graduating with an upper grade. I recall telling my colleagues and some lecturers that 5 years from now, I’ll return to the department as living proof that what you graduate with doesn’t determine your level of achievement or vice versa. Your desire, drive and passion will get you where you have planned to be regardless of the circumstances that surround your graduation.
I knew when i was leaving that i wanted to consult and all the jobs i’ve gotten since then have been consulting jobs. I have always loved to consult also on human related issues and now i’m doing HR consulting. I used to do financial consulting for my friends and lecturers while in the university. Now, i do financial advisory and consulting for clients. I was always anchoring one meeting or the other in school. Now, I do the same for corporate and informal audiences alike numbering thousands. HEY!!! what do you want to do at this point of your life. Wake and go do it.
The most fulfilling part of the seminar for me was that just 3 years later (2 years before i thought), I am already giving back to the school that affected my life and caused me to move in this direction in life.
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