THE STORY OF NIGERIAN UNDERGRADUATE WHO TAKES PHONE REPARING AS VOCATION

Can you tell us about yourself?

My name is Adu Adebimpe Pappy, I am a student, I am also working and I’m from Lagos State, my Mother is from Benin (Edo State).

You said you’re a student, which school are you going to?

Presently, I am in Crescent University at Abeokuta, and I am studying Computer Science.

What led you into the vocation you’re into now, Phone Engineering?

Actually what led me into the phone engineering was the situation of things, actually I only have mother, I don’t have father again and I don’t want to put too much pressure on her and I love dealing with electronics, so with the current situation of Nigeria, the rate of repair is higher than the rate of purchase, so that was the main motivation that actually drove me into phone engineering, into phones repair, that is the main motivation.

So, how have you been coping and balancing your work together with your academics?

Hmmmmn…..It has been very tough, for me it has been tough, it has not been very easy, for me to read and also attend to customers, it has been very tough, it’s two different things at same time. Because mostly if I want to read very well I need to stay awake all through the night, switch off my phone because I always receive calls, I have a lot of customers to attend, so balancing book and work for me is a very tough thing, it’s not something I can allow my kids to actually do, because it is not easy, for someone dealing with a lot of people, it is not easy, but with the help of God, I have been sustaining myself, and I am almost done with my school with good grades.

As a phone repairer, are you the only one working there, don’t you have assistant or apprentice to ease your workloads and work pressure?

No, I have apprentices but at same time even with the apprentices, the loads of work we have, we can’t even finish it, though we sit down to work together, the only thing we do is that we just shuffle it one after the other, it’s not that if we want to judged with the rate of works I am collecting, we might not finish the work per day but with the help of one or two things we are able to meet up with our target.

Going back to your academics, has your work been able to supplement your academics demands?

Presently, my work is actually helping my academic demands in some areas, mostly when you are in the University, you deal mostly on theories not on practical, so mostly when it comes to some courses that deals with practical aspects with my work and exposure, I am able to  get some details, when it certainly to programming, when it comes to internet, mostly it is practical, when you talk about 4-D, there are something you know, that this is 4-D, you will be able to list out some points, even though I am finishing my school soon, I still have to undergo some special programmes, for me to complement it very well.

What about the payment of tuition fees, buying of textbooks, payment of dues, and other things within the school?

My work has been helping me here, without it, I won’t be in school, every penny I earn today I used to pay, every penny I have in my office today, maybe I want to pay ₦200, I want to pay ₦50 in school, my work has been the providing it.

What is your advice to youths out there?

My own advice to youths out there is that, for every youths, we should be creative, we should not depend on White Collar jobs, there is nothing on White Collar jobs, for me, there is nothing, for every youths out there, even if I start my own family today, I will make sure my son or daughter have one vocational job.  He or she knows how to do, because out there with the situation of Nigeria right now, salary earners, they live on loans, that is the situation, those who don’t live on loans, maybe they are on the higher level, they are on level 16 or so, but those on the lower levels, they don’t enjoy themselves, but for me in Nigeria, you just need to have a handiwork, and when we look at Nigeria today, not only in Nigeria, even when you look at countries like; China, Japan, their children do learn extra jobs; everything is not about books, there are some children in Nigeria they know how to sing, must you force them to go to school to read?, They should go to music school, you can have your certificate in music skill, it’s not a must be a Doctor, it is not compulsory you be a lawyer, there are better jobs you can do. For example, doing Computer Science in School is not because I want to work outside; I am using it to enhance my handiwork, which is the phone engineering. There is a lot of things I can do, I can be a Consultant to a company, all I will just do is to help restructure your database and whatever things you need me to do, I don’t need to come to office everyday, once you need me, I will come there as a consultant. I will work base on contract, so why will I now wait for a white collar job that will pay me N30,000 according to the minimum wage in Nigeria, and I will be waiting for N30,000 to sustain my family, whereby I can earn N30,000 in just a day, so for me, if I am to compare talent, if you have a skills, a talent is far better than you going to for a job.

You said we should not rely much on White Collar jobs in Nigeria and on certificates, why?

Yes, because mostly now it is who’s who, if you don’t know someone you might not even get the job, so it’s mostly advised for you to be creative, selling something just right. What is the main reason we are going to school? One is to expand our brain faculty, that our brain to be expanded very well and secondly, to make money, but since you can have a skill and earn money, what’s the essence? The essence is just to go to school to enlarge our mentality, the way we think, because when you see somebody not going to school, an illiterate, a farmer, you will know the difference between someone that went to school, their thinking reasons will be different.

Let’s go back to your work, some people out there having learnt the job, but they are finding it difficult to start, what can they do in such situation?

Pertaining to that, they are finding it difficult to start because it is based on the person’s personality.

How?

It depends on how you place yourself, it matters a lot. How will I say it, I don’t believe that everyone has a customer “Pe a mu Customer wa lati ibi kan” (that we all brought customers from somewhere), the way you actually attend to customers, at the place I learnt my own job, even though my boss is not around, the way I will attend to you, you will feel like having my phone number, so that when next I am coming, when your boss is not around, you will attend to me, most people nowadays, are after the money not after what they want to learn. For instance, I am doing a job for my friend, and my boy saw that I want to collect N55,000 and out of the money, N45,000 is my gain, they will be like the money is much but they won’t want to know the process it takes, you have to gain some level of integrity, some level of trust in your customers, that when I come to Pappy’s Office, if they say this thing is N5, it is authentic, there is difference between you selling things out and given them fake, you might be selling fake but once people have that belief in you. My brother, this gadget (pointing to a phone) we are using, it is like spirit, if you’ve a mindset that your phone isn’t working properly, it won’t work properly well, no matter how, but when you have a mindset that your phone is working perfectly, even though there is something wrong with it, you will always enjoy it, so most youths out there, they don’t always want to stress themselves, they are not ready to obey, they are not ready to hear “you come and buy that thing”, they want quick money and I won’t blame them, it is the situation of the country, when you see your brother, he finished his Master’s Degree but yet at home, but soon or later, he’s found in some fraudulent activities, and someone into cybercrimes under two weeks buying Range Rover and you see him, you won’t want to go and read more, yet when you look at it, everything is not about shortcut, if you want to go through something that will last, you have to go through stages, life is stage by stage, you don’t just have a baby today and expect it to stand, everything is gradual, so my advice to people out there is, whether I have learnt a job, maybe at the place they actually learnt it they didn’t put in their mind, if you are actually good with your boss will even direct customers to you, that go and meet him, he is my boy, there is nothing bad but everybody is going to make his or her own money, every bank has customers, yet they are still making sales.

Now, where do you see yourself in the next few years?

In the next few years, with the help of God and everything, and I am able to see sponsors, ready to see people that are able to support, then in the next few years, I would be employing labour, I will be employing people, I will be employing educated people, BSc holders, because I don’t think there is much, to be sincere, with the help of God, I will be sincere and with the way things are going in Nigeria and way I am seeing things, with support from God and some financial support, in few years’ time, in as much I am not sleeping, I will be striving to create a change for sure there will be positive change.