by Ochekliye Ramatu

 ” And though the job was (way) beneath my pay grade, I took it because God blesses the works of our hands, not the laziness of our ideas. ”

Anytime I write an article like this, it is because I want to rant. So forgive me if you can. And if you can’t, la vie continua!

I always hear stuff like, ‘’There are no jobs in the country’’ and I am like, ‘’WHO TOLD YOU SO?’’. There are jobs in this country … they just might not be the ones you want. This is especially true for people who have gone through the four phases of formal education, and who think their degrees make certain jobs beneath their level. My question then is, WHAT LEVEL?

I’m surrounded by guys and girls who are above 25 and who sit at home all day, doing nothing. They do not work, they do not study and they definitely do not keep themselves abreast of world happenings. They spend all their time watching Nigerian movies (when there is steady power supply), and even the Nigerian movies they watch aren’t the good sort. One of the ladies is quite industrious, being that she wakes up at five, sweeps the compound, prepares the family meals and does general clean up. When she’s done with that, she plaits hair for people, albeit for free. She works, but no money flows in. As for the others, they define the term ‘’lazy’’. They wake up, watch movies, eat, and when there is power outage, they pull a mat outside and sleep under the shade of the tall trees in the compound. They are all totally dependent on their parents, who also do not work. Imagine the strain of taking care of five ‘above-25’ family members, including the little ones in the house.

I wake up early, head off to work and sometimes return to the house very late. On one of my off days, my friends were surprised to see me at home, at that hour. I decided to chat with them and voila, they told me I was a workaholic and they hoped I was paid a|
whole lot of money. I laughed. They then said, ‘Don’t stress yourself oh‘. I nearly walked out in a fit of rage. DON’T STRESS MYSELF? REALLY? In the same country where people died trying to get jobs, someone was telling me not to ‘stress myself’?? Really? But then again, I wasn’t surprised that lazy, unemployed 25-year-olds were saying I shouldn’t stress myself. To make matters worse, they said they will only work hard when they are collecting an allowance of not less than N100, 000. At that point, I got up and left them.

I remember my first job after I graduated from school. The pay wasn’t even enough to cover my transport fares, so my dad had to take me halfway to work so that I could have some little money. I didn’t need the job. My parents could take care of all my needs. But I needed the independence, I didn’t want to ask my dad for things like sanitary pads. I didn’t want my parents buying me clothes, when I was a full blown university graduate. And though the job was (way) beneath my pay grade, I took it because God blesses the works of our hands, not the laziness of our ideas.

We ALL need to work! It is not compulsory that it be a white collar job, in that plush office and with that fat bank account. Only about 15% of the population will get those jobs anyway. No matter how demeaning it is, shirk the laziness and do something. All through history, God expanded those who had zeal for what they did. I don’t know any lazy person who God blessed and made great…but if you do, let me know.

This message is especially for Pastors, Preachers etc. The great commission was given to ALL of us, so don’t use your pastoral office as an excuse not to work. We are no longer in that place where people say they are doing full time ministry. Your everyday life is a full time ministry. Get up and work. Write a book. Own a business. Work in a company. Do something other than live off the tithes. It is yours, no one argues that, but your congregation will respect you more if you were as industrious as they are. In fact, because leadership always leads by example, any church whose pastor doesn’t work will have more unemployed people in the congregation than employed ones. I know first-hand that any pastor that works has over 90% of his flock being hardworking, money-churning citizens. So please, let us stop using the gospel to promote our inherent laziness. We need to work and be good at what we do, because our life is our full time ministry. You can have all the anointing in the world but if you keep asking your brethren for money, you will lose your savour. Then, what is the use of tasteless salt than to be trampled on the ground?

Done ranting!

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Ochekliye Ramatu is an On-Air Personality at Gotel Communications, Yola. She is also an actress, baker and events planner.

30 Days 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija