MY TYPE OF JOBS

I wish to ask for pardon from the followers of my blog for the long hiatus. It is really regretted. I had relocated from Uyo to Jos on transfer. The process of transiting from the very humid ambience of Uyo to the wintery upland of Jos isn’t a child’s play. Actually, Jos is a town I cherish so much. I had longed to settle down here again. Suffice me to say that my mum gave birth to me in Jos. Not only that I was born in Jos, I also spent most of my childhood and early adulthood in Jos: I attended primary and secondary schools in Jos. So it was ecstasy for my wife and me when we received the message that I have been transferred to the beleaguered city of Jos. I had to start packing my belongings one after the other back to the troubled town. It wasn’t easy. That is why I have been somehow missing in the blogosphere.

That is by the way. Today, I would like to discuss the type of jobs I do. As a matter of fact, I venture into a lot of jobs; some of which I do to earn money, and others for self-aggrandizement. I am 70% a public servant, 20% a writer, 5% a teacher and 5% a businessman. Yes, I do business. I am into retailing of honey. I travel to my village in Enugu state to buy honey in bulk from bee-keepers and distribute them to my colleagues in the office, patients in the hospitals and other people who appreciate the health benefits of pure honey. I like the honey business because it is lucrative and less stressful; however, at first, when I started, I had difficulties convincing my customers that my product is pure and unadulterated. Due to the experiences they’ve had from buying sullied honey from scoundrels who sell cooked sugar as honey, I had to summon my innate marketing prowess to convince them that mine is different. As God may have it, those who took the ‘risk’ to buy my product had later ringed my phone after exhausting them. They had confessed that my product is untainted. They had also referred some of their family members and friends to me, to patronize my unsullied honey. An incident had happened when I started the honey enterprise, I had gone to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) to introduce my product to the staffs and patients. The nurses had mocked me and had dismissed my product as ersatz. Fortunately, one of the Senior Midwives in one of the wards had taken the ‘risk’ to buy a bottle of honey from me. After using it, she testified to her colleagues that my product was ultrapure. From that day onwards, they always called my phone number when they run out of honey.

On weekends, I facilitate at the Uyo Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). I lecture Criminology and Security Studies students. This is one of the side jobs that give me real joy and gaiety. Actually, I had longed to be a lecturer when I was an undergraduate. Then, I use to take my course-mates in tutorial classes and many of them had confessed that they comprehend what I taught them better than from the lecturers. After graduating from the university and served my nation for one year, I retired to teaching secondary school students. Then, my students were enthusiastic to attending my classes, and even the dullards participated actively in my classes. The Proprietor of the school had noticed my efficiency, and had increased my salary after two months of employing me to teach Geography. I was surprised when he summoned me one fateful day and beckoned on me that he would like me to take the senior students in mathematics, while Mr. Gollu, a trained teacher who had been taking them in that subject, was demoted to taking the junior students. He had increased my pay by a whooping three thousand naira on the nine thousand naira I was receiving. For me, money is not the issue when it comes to teaching. I enjoy teaching a lot that I don’t mind doing it without pay. Infact, when I was teaching in the secondary school, I had used my monthly salaries to buy textbooks and writing instruments for indigent students whose parents could not afford to buy them textbooks. When I resigned from the job, my students had cried and sobbed endlessly. Even my boss and fellow teachers had bawled and whimpered at my exit. My boss had appealed to me to stay back that he would increase my salary. But I have to move on. I took up an appointment with the Federal Government. Since then, I had no opportunity to teach again until a friend of mine invited me to take up a teaching job with the National Open University, Uyo Study Centre, as an adjunct facilitator. I was filled with joy and euphoria. I had taught my students, most of who are older than me, with enthusiasm and vigor. They always looked forward to weekends for my lectures.

I do the Public Service and the writers jobs simultaneously. In Nigeria, public service job is a sit-down-and-look kind of work where all you do is report in the morning, do some little paper works. When it is 30 minutes before the time of dismissal, you lock your office and to your tents oh Israel. Most times, I do my write-ups in the office when I am less busy. I write mostly about the penal administration in Nigeria. I am not happy with the way the government and the society in general treat the penal institutions in Nigeria, therefore, most of my writings are based on the numerous loopholes I observe as an insider in the penal subsector of Nigeria’s organigram.

Yes, those are the things that keep me busy. Not forgetting to mention that I am also a very good husband at home. At first when I started writing, my wife had been furious that I give more time to my laptop computer more than I give to her. She had needed more time. I had to regulate my writing so as to give her the time she required. After all, she owns me.