By Franklin O.O
Over the years, being a young Nigerian, I have heard people scream the mantra “Schooling no get age”, others say “you fit go school any time”. But upon graduation, older people struggle to fit into openings. This birthed the zest to challenge the authenticity of this ideology that has been sold to the common man for decades.
Average Nigerian parents have clinged to this, using it as a yardstick to encourage their kids when faced with the challenge of meeting their financial needs in relation to education. This is a self-comforting message to help children stay hopeful that they would one day catch up with their peers.
Who Takes the Blame?
Nigeria, popularly called the “Giant of Africa” and ranked as the 6th most populous country worldwide, has a population of over 242.4 million people in 2026, according to the latest United Nations population projections compiled by Worldometer.
Before now, the World Bank‘s 2025 estimate shows that about 63% of Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty, affecting about 140 million people out of the total population. With such a disturbing number of poor people, ideologies like “you fit go school anytime,” travel, and remains.
Speaking to Mr Emmanuel, a graduate of Economics who graduated at 28 from a tertiary institution in Nigeria, he said that was the biggest lie he was told. He shared his ordeal of ‘life after school’ as he has searched for jobs across various sectors, and age has proven to be a limitation. According to him, “they said we can go to school at any time, but now I have gone. They said you needed good grades to get good jobs, and now I have also bagged that. They said we needed a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Certificate, which I have in my possession.” He added, “After my acquisition of all these, they now require experience on the field before onboarding me. Now, I am 30, finished serving my country at 29, and I am struggling to get a job from firms, cutting across banks and other institutions because their age limit is set below 30.”
He went on to state that: “Even the NYSC scheme has a limitation that if you graduate at 30 and above, you cannot go for service like your colleagues, but would rather be given an exemption letter. Whereas the system should embrace anyone who has never engaged in the scheme before, irrespective of their age, so long they meet the requirements.”
Another source with undisclosed identity said: “They lied to us, school has age limit o! Send your child to school at a very early age because that is how they can stand a chance to compete fairly in the labour market as companies set age limitation for job openings. Once they pass the age limit, their qualification and skill would not count.”
Continuing, as someone who is older in the class, you will struggle to fit into the class because you will hardly earn genuine respect from your colleagues. They will accord you respect on the grounds that you are way older than them and not on the grounds that you deserve to be respected. While the impudent ones amongst them who have been opportuned to come to school earlier will be more disrespectful because they feel if you are smart enough, then you should be way ahead with your peers.
The system is not friendly. Go to school on time. Send your wards to school at tender ages. This is what will give you a fair chance to compete in the labour market after graduation.
However, it is expedient to know this is not always the case, and sometimes people bag good paying jobs even beyond age 30. This is how the Nigerian system is structured. It may vary from country to country, and institution to institution.
