10th October 2019
ABUJA JOB FAIR 2019 (AN ATTENDEE’S VIEW POINT)
Hi dear, am Ogunkunle Sarah, but you can call me Sarah. So did you hear about the 2019 Job Fair that took place in Abuja today the 10th of October 2019? Yeah right, am sure you did; I mean the flyers and write-ups on the job fair were eveeeeeryyyywhere online. Ooh wait, you didn’t hear about it? Oh well, don’t worry your pretty head because am here to give you the full and detailed gist about it.
So I was home one day with my phone making some online research as to schools to apply for my masters and available vacancies for work. Ooh, my bad, I forgot to mention that am a Lawyer who just recently finished her 1 year mandatory National Youth Service (NYSC). Anyways, so while I was busy deciding what to do with my life after service and researching on it, I got a what’sapp message from my friend about this Job Fair taking place in Abuja, wow I was so excited. The Job Fair was organised by GIZ, FIN in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Labour. I mean such has never been heard of, so I tried registering via the registration link, but to my shock I couldn’t because only companies/employers could register. This was around September 2019. So I sent a mail to the email provided for inquiries to inquire. Just imagine how crushed I was when I got their reply the next day. The summary of the reply was that during that period, only companies looking to recruit could register, and that job seekers already had a window to register and send their CVs and then they would be matched with the employers and interviewed at the Fair. Haaa, mogbe!!!, so all my excitement was for nothing, chai!!!. Anyways, so I sent the mail to my friend that sent the what’sapp message and my twinnie whom we had both planned to go together...to cut the long story short, we all felt disappointed. Weeks later, I kept on receiving the messages about the Job Fair, na wa for these people o, don’t they know they can’t go? On the day before the Fair, and even on the day of the Fair, I still got messages and pictures about the Fair. Toh!, as everyone keeps sending me this Job Fair event, it means everyone is going even without registering or submitting their CVs as was required. 
Did I go? What do you think?...of course I went..hahahahaha, who wan carry last, plus wetin I get to lose, no be say I gas pay money enter the venue or anything, laslas if they say make I no enter, I go just carry my kaya comot. Anyways, I got to ICC (which was the landmark for direction) started asking around for the venue of the event, I met some persons across ICC and as soon as I asked for the direction of the venue, the man just pointed at some group of youths walking across the street and said follow them, you all are going to the same place. Omo no be small thing o, see young Nigerians on the streets walking to M & M today. As if that wasn’t enough, I got to the venue and the queue for registration was mad. In fact, trust Nigerians, many have jumped queue and crowded the people registering. It got to a point they called the next batch of people inside the hall even without registering because it was obvious registering everyone of us on the queue would take the whole day. Na so we take enter o, but kai as I no register I no kon get souvenir from them, e pain me small sha cus the jotter be make sense. Anyways, inside the hall, there were many boots with each section labelled with their area of expertise. There were Hospitality, NGO/INGO, Finance and ICT. In fact, na ICT get that Job Fair, as soon as we entered, the first thing that came out of mine and my colleague’s mouth was, “No Law?” every booth I went that had vacancy listing had something related to ICT and Business Development, in fact most of the companies there had to do with capacity or business development or outsourcing something something. Yeah, before I forget, out of over 30 ministries, not to mention parastatals and government agencies, I personally saw only Ministry of Education and 3 other agencies under the Ministry of Labour. So how it went was we all went round each booth section, listened to what they offered, wrote down our contact details where we want to, saw their vacancies and got their mails, and we also had the opportunity to speak with them. Ehnehn, biko why ECOWAS no come? So as I dey waka upandan dey look booth, I con see ECOWAS booth, no crowd, only 2 ladies and 1 guy been sitdon for 3 chairs con do am like round table, I surprise con ask them if them be the ECOWAS rep, the guy laugh tell me say ECOWAS no come say dem ma na job seeker like me, say if them be true true ECOWAS I for no fit see them as crowd for don surround them. We all laughed about it but that was true. The crowd was crazy. Even with all the wonderful and powerful air conditions the heat no be here o, and see people sweating, no lie, one dude was soaked in sweat it was as if they poured him birthday water. Ladies nko, Mary was going left, while Kay was going right. The heat wasn’t the only thing that was an issue, the crowd too, having to push and struggle to pass, especially the booths having those foreign agencies like GIZ, FIN, British Council, International Labour Organisation etc it is obvious many youths are looking for an opportunity to leave Nigeria o, as those booths sections had the highest number of crowds making it difficult to pass through. After I had schemed through the booths and found nothing on Law, save for just 1, only 1 opening for Legal Adviser, I decided to leave the hall. Leave I said? more like struggle to exit. Shebi I complained of the crowd during my batch, the next batch crowd was something else. We couldn’t even exit as those ones were trying to enter at the same time. Those bouncers with their big big bodies could barely control the situation, so many pushing and all, they almost suffocated one of the bouncers sef. Sha at last, I exited the hall. I, other Lawyers present and many others exited the hall without a job interview or an assurance of a job placement, but we left with many flyers and souvenirs. The highlight of the event for me was meeting my classmates from secondary school, university and the Nigerian Law School and those I served with during NYSC.
After all said, I have to commend and appreciate the brains behind this event. It is commendable. My point of view is that this was the first of its kind, and was used as a test run. And even for a test run it was a successful event, maybe not as impactful as expected but the turnout was massive. To be honest I truly appreciate the idea, time, money and all efforts exhausted in the execution of this Job Fair and I commend all the partner organisations involved. I  I would strongly recommend that there be a Job Fair on a quarterly basis every year. This shouldn’t be a once in a year event. With the turnout of job seekers at the fair, it is obvious that lots of Nigerian youths are job seekers,  and that isn't because they are lazy. They are educated Nigerian youths looking to put to good and effective use what they have learnt while in turn getting paid so they can put food on their table, take care of themselves and their families who have spent a lot seeing them through school. 
Let me put the full stop here. I appreciate you reading this far, and I wouldn’t want to take much of your precious time. Until next time... 
Ogunkunle Sarah.