#ObasaGate: The Leaders Of Tommorow Have Been Scammed By Adeyeye Olorunfemi

Look at the picture attached to this article. Yes! You. The young man and woman in my generation. 

You should be familiar with that sheet and the handwriting on it by now. If you are, then you can continue reading this piece. 

If you are not, a faint search on Google using the keywords- “Obasa, spending, loots” will bring you to speed. I am sure you won’t finish typing the word “corruption” to the name “Obasa” before Google comes to your aid. 

As a ritual, I was going through my WhatsApp status early this morning and I stumbled on a job advert by one of the Tech companies in Nigeria. The role is Full Stack Developer. The skills for the role were stated as “Front/Back-end, React Native, Node.js, Python, php etc.” Did you see “etc.”? That’s how vacancies are written in Nigeria. Be ready for eventualities. You may also work as a gateman if the need arise. 

Experience stated, 3 to 5 years. 

What then caught my attention was the SALARY, N960,000. I was like wow, this is impressive. It took closer inspection for me to see that that figure is the annual salary. Annual! 

I hissed with all the strength in my buccal cavity. N960, 000 per year is N80, 000 per month for all the skills that were stated. You should not forget that the prospective would still be asked to do some “hidden works”. Digital marketing, social media influencing. If they are not careful, they would run amala errands for the MD. The work climate is that bad. I can tell you. 

If you are not conversant with tech education, I can help you understand it a bit. To get those skills stated above and profess a mastery of them, you would have spent nothing less than N2m cumulatively in years. Outside the money is your time and energy spent over the years. We don’t calculate those in this part of the World. 

I had some of my Artificial Intelligence training in one of the programming schools in Lagos, where students pay N2m fee for a year and half to learn programming. I personally have spent a fortune to garner skills in data analytics and Artificial Intelligence, outside other communication skills.

Now to the mystic handwriting on paper. 

Obasa is not a front-end, back-end or “middle-end” developer. Whatever he studied in school isn’t even reflecting in the personal carriage of the “Nina lowo” crooner. 

What baffles me most in all of the exposé is that there is no budget or proposal defense day when he has to put on suits like undergraduates do. I don’t think he knows how to use PowerPoint for presentation. No masterclass was attended for presentation skills. 

Obasa has not read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” like we were blackmailed into reading. “If you have not read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, your orientation on wealth creation and financial independence is not yet complete,” said our world view mentors. 

I don’t think The “Richest man in Babylon” is on his book shelf, if he has one. 

The monies come out without any Microsoft Excel skill. 

All what brings out the billions spent on opulence is that haggard handwriting you have seen in the picture. 

What is even capable of running anyone mad is the “treat as urgent” message that follows most of the memos. 

Young man, are you still okay reading this? 

He, like many other thieves, do not possess these skills yet we were and are still being told that without these soft and hard skills, we are not set for the world. 

Were we scammed? Or were we not just prepared for the world? 

I think we were lied to, out of some moral complexities, fueled with hypocrisy. You see that permanent secretary; a civil servant owning a mansion in Lekki. He is a thief. The same thief tells you that God has been faithful when you ask how he made his money. 

The net to do any decent work and make decent living is shrinking by the day. Hardly would you find any principled person doing business successfully in Nigeria today. Principles are being redefined. 

The real world has just one song — “Make money anyway, anyhow. No be by skill o”. 

But we were not taught that song. We were left to figure the tune ourselves. 

The world here, as in, Nigeria, is a criminal enterprise and Obasa and his likes were prepared for it