Discussion Time at House of ABSOL is the time to delve into topical issues and matters around but not limited to life, love, relationship, sex, career development, marriage, politics, religion, finances and so on. It is usually a period of enlightenment and this time, we decided to go political as politics is now everywhere in Nigeria. Below is how the discussion went down at the level of HOUSE OF ABSOL on the 19th of June, 2022.
Thank you for having me for this discussion.
I'm really excited to be here and to share my thoughts on this esteemed group. I hope that we would have a really engaging and informative session. To the topic, "Politics and Me"
Firstly, WHAT IS POLITICS?
Politics is defined as the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power.
WHY DO WE NEED POLITICS?
Humans are social animals. Being social animals mean we have to relate amongst ourselves and cooperate in groups. To effectively cooperate we need to have an organised structure or hierarchy of leadership. To effectively organise and create a leadership structure, we need to negotiate amongst ourselves to select who the leaders are and their hierarchy. The struggle to fulfil this evolutionary tasks of organising ourselves as social animals is what gave rise to the art of politics
WHY DO I NEED TO PARTAKE IN POLITICS?
Like I said we are social animals, meaning that we would always be bound to a structure. Whether we decide to partake or not, we would be part of the structure and leadership hierarchy negotiated by others. Hence, it is important that you as an individual partake in the negotiation of the leadership hierarchy that is implemented on your behalf.
The next thing I will be discussing is THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF POLITICS
The idea of politics has not always been as we know it now. The primitive society was a hunter-gathering one. However, as humans moved from hunter-gathering societies into city dwellers, the leadership hierarchy became stricter. To illustrate this better, the difference between the Israelite society from the exodus to judges and then the Israelite society is born in the book of 1st Samuel. Apologies that I am bringing in a religious book, I just want to use it for an illustration. Basically, there was a change in leadership structure. From exodus to judges, the Israelites were ruled by people who carried religious mandates. But by 1st Samuel, they asked for a king and they got Saul which is a political mandate. This scenario was not only in Israel, it happened in all societies, as people became established city dwellers just like the Israelites after wandering in the desert, societies consolidated political authority with kings.
Under a monarchial system, politics even though prominent was limited. This is because the apex seat and most times noble seats were confined to families. Hence, if your family can't be kings or Nobles, you had no business playing politics. Only those who are entitled to the seat can hold the seat. Consider game of thrones, no matter how skilled you are, if you don't belong to any of the 7 houses, you can't rule no matter how intelligent you are. Although, people can jump this rule and circumvent it. If you have great military power, you can create another leadership line using military force. But during this era, the average man has no business with politics.
But this changed in the late 1700s with the French Revolution. During the enlightenment, philosophers like Kant, Descartes, Jean Jacque Rosseau and others started asking questions about the morality of kingship and monarchy. People like Thomas Paine wrote great treatises such as Common sense and Rights of man as a critique of the system of kingship.
For the first time ever people saw no need to be ruled by kings and for people to be entitled to rule just because of the family they were born. The French people beheaded King Louis XVI and rejected monarchy. The American Revolution was a revolt against the British monarchy. That was the inspiration behind Thomas Jefferson's "All men were born free and created equal".
With the elimination of monarchy, a system of suffrage was proposed and implemented. Nobody has a divine right to leadership, if you want to be our leader, we have to vote you in. This was the revolutionary moment when politics was transformed. From this moment upward, the average man ceased to have no business in politics, now the average man must now partake in politics and consent to who rules them. This was the Eureka moment
After this transformation, the average man became a full political participant. And there was no in-between. You can either consent by participating in the process or consent with your silence.
Now, we are moving from a distant analogy to the political system in Nigeria
But before I do that. Bringing the common man into politics opened up the chance for new brands of thinkers. Different ideologies sprang up to explain the political process and system of government to the average person. Hence, the birth of political ideologies. Communism, socialism, capitalism and whatever.
The question, therefore, is how do we transform this historical knowledge of why politics concerns us into taking action in Nigeria?
Karl Marx wrote, "Philosophers have interpreted the world (in many ways), the point is to change it"
We have established that we must participate in politics. Why because those who are in power have a mandate to implement policies that affect us. It doesn't matter what we think, power is the ability to effect changes, unless we are in power or we negotiate power changes, those in power will continue to effect changes whether for our good or for their own good
People have been participating but it seems nothing is working.
Firstly, after the French Revolution, there was a boom in political ideologies. Hence, the active ingredient of political development is ideology. I am not preaching any ideology but people must read and debate from ideological grounds. That's when our participation will be meaningful However, we must also not be carried away by ideologies.
"Theory without practice is dead, and practice without theory is blind" This exactly is the problem with politics in Africa as a whole. In the words of Professor Lumumba. "In Africa, those who have ideas don't have power and those who have power don't have ideas".
In Nigeria, those who have the ideas and substance to develop the country do not know how to win political power. In contrast, those who have mastered the art of winning power are bereft of Ideas. Therefore, our task as young people is to strike a balance. We need a new breed of people who have the strategies that can win power and who are well equipped with ideas to transform the country.
With the way things are, if you don't have these 2 skills, you will either be a joker and failure while contesting or you win and perform woefully. We need to learn from the bad boys who can win power. Elections in Nigeria are every 4 years, but the process of the election has a span of 4 years. Those who will contest or become delegates in 202 have started planning.
In 2019, we started 3rd force, we went back to sleep again till 2022 and we started shouting again. But during that period we were on sleep, PDP and APC have been doing meetings for 4 years. We want a quick fix because we are lazy to build. We need to start working to build political structures. Don't be deceived that the people are the structure. APC and PDP meetings in my ward are always full to the brim. The people there are humans and not animals
So we need to have real footing on the ground. If we want to partake in politics, it is beyond PVC. Being just a voter is a bad use of political participation. Why? Because you are technically forced to vote for people who some others have decided are fit to contest
As a personal view, I feel you should be more interested in getting your favourite person to the ballot rather than choosing who to vote on the ballot. This is why political participation at the local level is needed. Start from your unit or your ward. How many of us know 10 people that will be voting in the same polling unit as us? If we don't know them, how do you convince them to vote for you in the face of vote-buying?
We have also been making mistakes. We have been focusing too much on who becomes the president but we've forgotten that the president is also aided by a system of irresponsible senators, House of Representatives members and house of assembly members. How do we intend to change this? Because getting responsible and people with ideas into these posts is the real structure
I would be rounding off the discussion with these closing remarks.
We have established that as political animals, we are bound to be ruled as a group, we can't escape it. We must strike a balance between ideology and being politically savvy to win elections. Finally, that effective political participation is not only voting but rather, active participation in the process of selection
I would like to appreciate everyone for their attention and ask if anyone has questions
© Production of House of ABSOL, 2022
Good evening ladies and gentlemen of HOA and to all of our new members strictly here for this purpose. We do hope to have you around and enjoy more of your company and of course so you also get to enjoy some of our unannounced events.
Quickly
and briefly, you are all officially welcome to another round of RANDOM TALK
WITH ABSOL. A platform where we get to dissect issues from diverse issues
affecting us the youths, meanwhile, it is not every time the talk is a serious
one but you are sure of and guaranteed of learning something vital while
listening to ABSOL talk.
So,
let’s get down to business. By the end of this talk, the following are the
things you would have an additional understanding of:
Ø Get to know about the reality of Life Inside NYSC and after NYSC
from my perspective
Ø The real reality after NYSC and My Story
Ø How to avoid costly mistakes many have already made and many more.
Just as we have it in Customer Service, at the point of customers buying your products, customers can be made two things, either a terrorist or loyal customer. However, irrespective of what they become after purchasing your product, it is all strictly dependent on the seller, company or the brand as the case may be.
The same
thing is applicable here. Your reality after NYSC is decided by a lot of
factors mostly responsible for by YOU and YOU alone. Though, no doubt, there are others which you actually have no power over.
What is life
inside NYSC like? I am Oluwasola Abiola Elisha – ABSOL. I served with the Batch
B Stream 2 of 2019 and of all places in Nigeria to serve, I served in Ekiti
State. The reason my state code read EK/19B/….7 and you are about to listen to
my story.
I won’t
be dwelling so much on my NYSC story but I will be dwelling on those that made
life after NYSC a bit less cumbersome. So let’s go.
Like
every other Nigerian graduate, I got mobilized for the compulsory one year
service. The mobilization news came at a time when I was already into the teaching
profession at Leader College Nigeria.
Of
course, like every other Nigerian, I needed to quit immediately and start
earnest preparations. I am a stubborn, playful and crazily adventurous
personality and as a result of those traits in me, I went against my mom’s
fearful counsel on picking nearby locations for NYSC, I picked Jigawa, Kano,
Cross Rivers and Ogun State out of “You must pick a place from the Southwest.
Fast
forward, I got, posted to Ekiti. That felt like a punishment for me but it was
a blessing in disguise. Indeed, God’s ways are not our ways, the reason our
number one point of emphasis will be that you don’t leave God out of the things
that you do. He should and must come first in everything that you, very
important.
Ekiti,
here I come. Did everything possible in camp to get posted to the capital city
where I am now presently enjoying my life the little way I can. But NYSC again decided to reason me dirty. I got posted to Aisegba Ekiti! A rural and interior
area of no light and water.
That was
where my hustling and survival spirit got ignited. There were no way in the
world I could practice any of my entrepreneurial skills in Aisegba, not car
wash, not home cleaning services, not even writing, don’t let us even mention
event hosting. It was the time of my life when I had to give up on freelancing
when I started missing deadlines as a result of poor electricity power supply
which never happened before and would never have happened if in a better
location of adequate infrastructural and social amenities.
To those
still in NYSC, what are the things you should do while still in service and
still kinda enjoying “free money?”
Yes, it
was more like I practically lost everything upon getting to Aisegba. As
outspoken and bold as I can be, when it comes to asking for financial aid or
assistance, I can be irrationally shy. So having lost everything I can use to
be generating income, I had to start thinking outside the box. One very important
thing to note before we proceed is that please, to further make your life after
NYSC life easy, please do not introduce yourself to a lifestyle you are either
sure not sure you can sustain and maintain after service.
I have
always loved teaching, it gives me joy and this sense of expression of myself
which I love and that is the number one thing you may need to adequately work
upon during your service year. DISCOVER YOUR PASSION AND AREA OF INTEREST.
Teaching became the only available demand in the rural community. They value
education so much but they have little or no access so I felt, that was an
opportunity to further expand my knowledge of teaching after all I have been
posted to the location strictly to teach.
I
started sourcing out for home lesson clients and it worked! I settled for one
of the things I have passion for and the number one on the list for that matter –
TEACHING. To the glory of God, there was a rapid expansion that made me even
secure two classrooms from a nearby public school before COVID-19 did it blow
on us.
Another
thing you should do during NYSC which is very vital to your survival after NYSC
is GETTING A SKILL. I am not even talking about SAED now, I am talking about
you venturing into a kind of skill in line with the discovery that you have
already done.
I
already had many skills on me before venturing into the adventure of NYSC but I
am a bit of one hell of a curious person and crazy lover of knowledge. I love
to know! I wanted to stretch myself and build up my skills so I started by
developing my existing skills before venturing into ones I never had.
Please
as much as you can during your service year, GET INVOLVED in activities. Volunteer
and network yourself. If eventually given the chance to serve as a result of
your show of interest, please do it diligently and committedly.
I
started getting involved and that with the help and grace of God, I found favour
in the eyes of my LGI, Landlady, and PPA headmaster. Don’t be surprised, the
lessons from each of them will be shared as well.
First,
my engagements and involvement during general CDS got me recognized by my LGI
and when WHO decided to come for a project at Gbonyin Local government, I was
effortlessly recommended and got selected against all odds. I did not get that
by just sitting during the CDS days, please. Don’t forget, heaven helps only
those who help themselves. I ended up serving as an Independent Monitor for WHO
in partnership with Ekiti State Government and at large, the federal government
of Nigeria. The incentive was worth it no doubt but the long-term benefit of it
is still being enjoyed by me even after NYSC. We are going there, wait for it.
Secondly,
getting involved and display of interest in things got me recognized by my
Landlady and that was when I started learning great lessons about life and
above all, home management. They were not lessons learnt from books, they were
real and practical. Much of them are still in my head.
And yes
with my PPA headmaster, I learnt the basics of School Management and above all,
I was able to use the period to boost my basic ICT skills. I volunteered to
help in the ICT department for the period I was in school, I became
responsible for typing and printing the exam questions which helped my
multitasking skills. There are many things getting involved and showing
interest brought me, both bad and good anyways but life itself is a risky
business and you only get to enjoy it as you take the risks. I became the
social director and even served as head of logistics for the execution of our
set’s CDS Project work, the first of its kind in the community. So please, if
you are here and still actively in service, don’t waste the period of time just
flexing and cruising. I also cruised and flexed, I even taught some of the
opposite sex friends some lessons in the other room, a discussion for another
day though. But please get involved! It kind of builds you for the rainy days
ahead in ways you will never believe.
Above
all, still on getting a skill, I decided to take a professional certification
course in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Omoooo, I have no regret I
paid to learn that course. Trust me, the skills and certification are paying
off big time right now. Please, get professionally certified in any area of
your interest. Do your research and register with a recognized institute. I can
only boldly speak of the International College of Safety and Management Professional
(ICSMP). There are many more.
So after
NYSC, what is the real reality and how do you face them?
We are
in a system of he who knows who gets what. At least for the next decades and
more, we all have to sadly embrace that reality. It is now left to us all to
get ourselves connected and networked out. Don’t take any form of relationship for
a joke. Make the best of every moment reality has decided to present you with.
There is
a depressing stage we all must pass through especially when the reality of the question
of WHAT NEXT? Boldly comes on you. Most times, this reality comes on one few
months to the end of the program. I suffered mine but I had a crazy psychologist as a girlfriend then. Oyindamola Ajike went out of her way and
fought really hard with everything she’s got to take me through that stage of “depression.”
That was the period of time I got familiar with most psychological jargon. Rose
was there for me all through, a babe and more indeed. She may have exed herself
in my life for reasons only known to her, a breakfast I am still staggering to
get back on my feet but surely, I owe her much and it is the reason I have kept
on hanging around. No, she deserves all of the available accolades.
Meanwhile,
reality after NYSC is a two-way thing, for some, their life after NYSC is
settled even before they entered the camp. There are levels to these networking,
connections and legging of a thing. The reason you should desist from comparing
yourself and strictly focus on YOU and there are some of us that we actually
have to climb that ladder of connections and networking ourselves. We
practically have to build the legs. This message may not really make so much
sense to the first category set of people but to those of us with short legs
and little or no connections, then, kindly follow me as we delve into this
together.
We had
our Passing Out Parade (POP) on the 16th day of July 2020. But
before then, with the help of God, Rose and my many Mentors that will not give
up on me, most especially my parents, I have been able to at least navigate my
way for a start and the conclusion was that I was not going to go back home in
Ife. I decided to stay back at my “Uncle’s” place here in Ado-Ekiti. I have a phobia of Lagos, so I did not even bother myself chasing opportunities at
Lagos despite being qualified for some of the opportunities professionally. A
very big part of me just does intentionally ignore opportunities from Lagos. I don’t
mind any other location around the world o, but you see that Lagos? Let’s leave
that for another day.
If you
know me well, you will know that I create a family for myself wherever I find
myself (an example of HOA). I make a family of people with the help of God and my human relations skills.
So if I mention names such as Uncle, I am not referring to my blood relations.
The
number one reality after NYSC that you need to embrace is that you should be
ready to START SMALL. Don’t rush, it is a gradual process. The bitter truth is
reality after NYSC is really a brutal one but if you can manage it well, you
will survive the brutality beyond your imagination.
On no
account should you settle for the statement of “I will rest a few months before
I begin seeking opportunities” Please don’t!. Start immediately except you have
a soft couch to land on, if not, please, don’t hesitate to start chasing
opportunities. Just don’t ever remain idle.
I
entered Ado-Ekiti, totally strange land to me on the same day of POP and the
real reality finally came down on me right there in my Uncle’s house. Rose was
always there to be talked to. She was never too busy to listen to me rant and talk nonsense. “Adeyemi calms down, okay so, what about…” I still remember
vividly some of her words and they do give me thing goo bumps sometimes.
The
first thing I did was to take a tour of the whole of my new environment. I
walked practically every nook and cranny of Omisanjana. Having done that, I
knew it was time to establish ABSOL VENTURES properly. I could no longer go
back to freelancing fully as most of the clients already found alternatives. Oh
Yes, just before I forget, after NYSC, no one actually sends you anymore. Nobody
gives you money anymore, those who promised you jobs WILL disappoint you. Many
will not pick your calls. Don’t blame them, most of them actually don’t have
anything to offer at the moment, they are not being wicked. Younger ones will
disrespect you, to the guys, your girlfriend may leave you. My own girlfriend did
not leave me immediately though, blame not the young woman, time is never on
their side.
So I
started pasting my stickers all around. All of EKSUTH had my stickers then,
there was hardly any house with a gate in Omisanjana that did not get my
sticker. Well, it worked. Customers started coming in one after the other. Lack
of capital will not let me set up properly so I settled for the home service
pending the time there will be capital to set up ABSOL CAR WASH properly.
The
ambitious I was not satisfied with the little changes coming in. I hate to be a
burden to anyone, and I was already beginning to feel uncomfortable under my
Uncle/helper’s roof. So I started walking around looking for possible vacancies
in my area of career interest – Teaching. It was the time lockdown was just
getting lifted. My hunting adventure worked, I secured teaching jobs at two
different schools. Yea! Two different schools with different salary schemes. Of
course, I failed other interviews at other schools as well or as people will
say, I did not fail, an me no get leg. They were big schools you know. As I
said, never be scared and afraid to start small, just be contented and keep
pushing.
I
comfortably picked the one that suit my interest. All of these happened between the 16th day of July and Thursday 29th of July when I entered
my first class at LINKERS MODEL COLLEGE.
Many
things have happened between then and now and the hustle continues. To the
glory of God, at least now, I can lay claim to certain achievements and successful
adventures. I am not where I want to be yet, but I give glory to God for how
far I have come. The goal is just to never give up! That is my story so far.
The journey continues.
Do you have questions to ask? Kindly reach out via - 07032277508 (Whatsapp/Call)
(c) ABSOL
