By Abioye Tosin Lawrence
….When Degrees Lose Their Dignity
Somewhere in Nigeria, over 20 individuals, armed not with weapons, but with Master’s degrees, lined up for a cameraman job. It wasn’t a multinational or media conglomerate recruiting. It was a showman named Peller, reportedly without a degree himself, who had made it clear: no Master’s, no job. What started as a job screening ended up as a parade of irony, humiliation, and bitter reflections on a nation that has failed its best.
You could laugh, if it weren’t so tragic.
Because behind the viral tweets and sensational captions is a deeper, more painful truth: Nigeria is producing talent with nowhere to go. Educated minds with nothing to build. Skilled hands with nothing to touch. And a generation that’s being taught daily that certificates might get you in the room, but they won’t earn you respect.
When Degrees Lose Their Dignity
The Nigerian dream, for decades, was simple: go to school, earn your degree, and you’ll earn your place. But that dream has crashed. Today, having a degree often means little more than being literate in a country that doesn’t care. Many of our brightest are jobless, stranded, or forced into jobs far below their qualifications, while those with connections, fame, or swagger do the hiring.
Even worse, these qualified youths are subjected to mockery. Imagine spending six years in the university, plus NYSC, only to be interrogated like a criminal by someone with no formal education. That’s not just unemployment; it’s institutional humiliation.
When the System Lacks an Ecosystem
Nigeria doesn’t lack education. It lacks ecosystems, systems that nurture, refine, and absorb talent:
Where are the innovation hubs for our engineers?
Where are the media incubators for our creatives?
Where are the policy labs for our political scientists?
Where is the manufacturing base that needs our economists, our statisticians?
We’ve built schools but not futures. We’ve taught students but left them unmentored. The result? A disconnected pipeline of potential, broken at every stage.
The Upside-Down Respect System
We now live in a culture that celebrates noise over knowledge. That exalts entertainers over educators. A cameraman job might not be dishonourable, but when it becomes the peak for a Master’s holder, then the problem isn’t the graduate, it’s the ground beneath us.
The man without a degree sits in judgment of the ones with it, not because he’s better, but because the nation is sicker. And in such a country, skill without visibility becomes a curse. Education without structure becomes regret.
What’s the Real Lesson?
No, it’s not just “learn a skill.” Most Nigerian graduates already have skills. The real questions are:
Where are the platforms for them to thrive?
Where are the policies to link skills to industry?
Where are the leaders that prioritize competence over clout?
We need more than prayer. We need structure. We need reform. We need a radical shift in how we value, deploy, and honour education.
Final Words: From Humiliation to Mobilization
What happened at that camera job is not an isolated joke, it’s a national pattern. Until we confront it, more graduates will queue for crumbs, while the unqualified play king.
It’s time to stop laughing at the unemployed and start demanding systems that work. A nation that mocks its best minds is only mocking its future.
Abioye Tosin Lawrence
Memoirist. Publisher of Oriontimes Online Newspaper.
Author of the forthcoming memoir, Voices from the Fire: My Journey Through a Hollow Empire.
