A loot of Nigerian students especially those from high school still hold some archaic mentality that some courses are a sure way out of poverty. The situation of Nigeria and the future should make people dead that mentality o. If you arent from a rich family or well connected you should avoid studying some courses in Nigeria.
The following should be avoided except you are rich or well connected.
Medicine: This used to be a very sure way out of poverty. Just like 14 years back, even NYSC doctors were getting six figures. It was so good that even after NYSC and Housemanship, some doctors had bought nice cars or even built houses. The situation is totally different today. To get housemanship as a doctor na die and even when you get it you will be paid peanuts. To migrate out of the country as a doctor requires serious money which if you arent from a privileged home might be very difficult to meet. To also further as a doctor in Nigeria is very difficult as a lot of residency programs are based on who you know. Its no more about merit just as it used to be before yet every year thousands of teenagers kill themselves trying to get into medicine when they can get into other programs which are much more lucrative.
All Engineering Courses except Electrical/Computer engineering: Contrary to what a lot of people think, engineering a lot of branches of engineering are not as lucrative as people think they are. I was checking unilag’s cut off the other day for my cousins and was shocked to find out that petroleum engineering has the highest cut-off point in the engineering department. That is a program that should be scrapped. Its glory days are over and never going to come back and its so restrictive yet a whole lot of brilliant people think killing themselves to study this is actually a good idea. Electrical and computer engineering are the only courses I can really advise anyone to go for as they are very much relevant in the ICT sector. Embedded systems, computer hardware, robotics alongside a host of others are mostly offshoots of these fields.
Lucrative alternatives to engineering that arent as competitive are computer science, mathematics and physics. Someone intending to study civil engineering or mechanical engineering in Nigeria should go for physics. There’s practically no place a mechanical or civil engineer can work in this world that someone with a degree in physics cant work.
Law: I wont say much here but if you love poverty, this is an amazing course to study. If you are from arts class, instead of law go for a degree in English. At least with a TEFL certificate and an English degree you can get good jobs teaching English in asia and latin america.
Another thing that might help is that before you study a course, go on linkedin. Create a profile, go to linkedin jobs and check specifically how many jobs exist for your course in Nigeria, Africa and globally.
Nigeria isnt funny anymore to waste time on nonsense and funny as it is, Nigeria of today is a paradise compared to the Nigeria coming so folks should help themselves.
