Chapter 37 - Driven By Vision

Chapter 37

A New Career

Vision Emerged

“My immediate concern now is

To make a choice

Between being a "lake"

And a "flowing river"

                                     

          The above statement, which I wrote myself sometime in early 1984, summarised my mood as I contemplated a career change then.

          At a point in my secretarial career, it was clear to me that I needed to chart a new course that would be a fully absorbing, sufficient and satisfactory engagement for life till retirement.  I realised that I could only give my present occupation ten or a maximum of fifteen years post-qualification experience.  I was late to decide on the career change, almost eight years in the secretarial profession just before I enrolled with the Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (now Chartered).  It was clear then that my secretarial profession offered me virtually no new challenges any more. All prospects had been achieved and utilized. 

          My best career prospect was in reading Law but I was then not in a position to pursue it.  One of the two other options was being a Reporter at the nation's National Assembly, the qualification of which I possessed but, again, the prospect was vitiated by the fact of the existing military interregnum which blotted any hope of the early emergence of civil rule by which there could be a People's Assembly.  The last alternative was being an expert Human Resource(s) practitioner- a profession I loved because one way or the other, it has to do with solving people's problems. I particularly love the industrial relations aspect because it blends with my desire to know much about people's rights in the workplace.

          I have always admired and regarded Lawyers as wise people with poise, who have a good command of the English Language.  They epitomised my ideal society wherein justice and fairplay prevailed.  I hate cheating.  Such feeling had underlined my earlier involvement in active student unionism while in the Secretarial School and, even much later, when I had the opportunity of working for another organisation as an active member of the Senior Staff Association.  I do believe that unions should see themselves as partners in progress in an organisation but not equals with their employers.  I believe that only facts, no longer might, should be relevant in the process of collective bargaining.  Beyond that, if any employer was recalcintrant and reluctant to accept irrebuttable evidence laid before it, then labour was free to employ all the legal provisions available to improve the lot of the workforce.   Likewise, if an organisation's position was transparent enough, it would be foolhardy and irresponsible for union officials to instigate a strike action.

          My experiences in students and trade unionism have, however, shown, most often, the phenomenon of power play and politics because of selfishness on the part of some leaders.  For the same reasons, unfortunately, this politics and powerplay is not even excluded in some houses of God!  Nobody seems to recognize that God can do anything for him or her.  Rather manipulations are the order of the day. There will be shockers in heaven! 

          Another consideration for change was so that whenever I left paid employment, I could transit easily to the chosen career seamlessly as my own employer.  Since the opportunity to read law appeared not to be immediately feasible then, I opted to enrol with the Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria where I passed all their three-stage examinations to become a certified HR expert.  Again, to be on the side of the people, I specialised in the Industrial Relations aspect of the practice.  My thesis was titled “The Effect of Government Intervention in Trade Unionism in Nigeria…” using a multinational organisation as a case study.  About the time I was completing the IPM's training, I still felt thirsty to read law.

          To keep the hope alive, I therefore first enrolled for the Diploma in Law programme in the 1990/91 session at the Lagos State University where I went on thereafter to complete a six-year course for the LL.B (Hons.) Degree in Law and the Bar examinations at the Nigerian Law School.  My experience at the University was rather long and turbulent for the reasons to be explained shortly.

People who don't read books tend to find life boring, dull and their lives are static. So cultivate a reading habit! Yemi Omogboyega