Very Important for Nigerian Graduates

I am not an English language teacher, but it is always very painful to me whenever I visit this website and see how bad some Nigerian graduates have turned the English language. They now have their own abbreviated spellings and some other crap. Imagine someone spelt expect as xpect, come as , and so on. What was difficult in putting the letter 'e' in the beginning of the spelling? Is it now fashionable to write the English language in a crappy manner? Is that what is now reigning in Nigeria? Let me give you guys a true gist. Some years ago when I was still in Nigeria, a friend of mine whose brother was one of the top managers at Nestle marked some essay scripts of some graduates who applied to Nestle. Could you guys imagine that a university graduate, with a second class x, wrote the essay as if she wrote a text message to her friend with some awful abbreviations? It was that bad, guys. This was somebody looking for a job where she would get 210+ per month. The thing really peeved my friend's brother who immediately threw her essay script, CV and everything document that belongs to her into the trash bin. This same thing has been happening to droves of Nigerian graduates, but they are not aware. There is something that no one can gainsay here, and it is that whatever you do all the time becomes a part and parcel of you, whether the thing is good or bad. So, my humble counsel is that we should all write appropriately whenever we send any post on this forum. In so doing, we will improve our writing skills. Those of you who are members of test magic forum know what I am talking about. Those guys there write as best they could and I 'always and always' learn from them, albeit they make minor errors that usually come from those guys who did not study in the English language like you.

In conclusion, I would like to come to Nijahotjobs forum and learn from my Nija brothers, not to come and be disappointed or worst of all worsen my ability that I am just developing in the English language.

Comments from the astute guys in the house will be very much appreciated.

WOI
Universiteit Van Stellenbosch.

I'll save my comments for letter, but first of ALL, could u clarify the comment "guys who did not study in the English language like you." where you refers to?????

Thanks for your terse comment, my man. However, I seem not to understand your statement: where you refers to. Are you asking about the guys I referred to in my last post or what? Please expatiate. Thanks again.

Anyway, I have said the best I could say. Everything else depends on those who really want to improve. By the way, any Nigerian graduate who studied finance, economics, mathematics, physics, actuarial science or engineering, who made a good 2:1 and is interested in graduate studies in financial engineering, mathematical finance or quantitative economics should please contact me via email. I have some important information that will be useful from the 30th of September this year. I don't need your cash, please. Just let me know if you are interested in graduate studies and I could help you out. I am just finishing my thesis and I believe I will be very selfish if I don't say some things that helped me get quality education on a platter of gold outside our beloved country. At least, if there is no job, one must still go to school. My email is [email protected].

More comments with regard to my first post are still expected, but only from the refined guys.

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Originally Posted by god_speed

I'll save my comments for letter, but first of ALL, could u clarify the comment "guys who did not study in the English language like you." where you refers to?????

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Yeah guy, I just saw your point now now now. Okay, I meant guys who were not as privileged to study in the English language as we were privileged and are still privileged in Nigeria. Hope this explanation clears the air...

Hey mate! You write typically like someone who have not been outside the shores of your state or country.. I did my schooling in UK with most of my classmates & lecturers from around the world & could not even spell common words. Does that mean they're uninformed? or illiterate or not well educated?..You have to understand that English is not our first language & because its constantly been changed by the Oxford scholars,it means we can never be abreast with it.Please be guided in your reasoning as a typical write up or say abbreviation can not depict how educated or capable one would be in formal employment.Even here in Uk, Nigerians speak english better that the english people themselves so i have no idea what is bothering you...

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Originally Posted by ighoeve

More comments with regard to my first post are still expected, but only from the refined guys.

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By this statement, do you mean only people who share your thoughts can reply? Well, sorry if I don't precisely fit into that description. Ighoeve, this is an 'informal' forum where facts and ideas are shared with particular regards to jobs in Nigeria- emphasis on 'informal'. No CVs are composed nor are applications collected in this forum. We only share helpful information. Hence, the most essential thing here is that the message is passed. If you question grammatical constructions, fine, but please, short spelling forms and pidgin are totally accommodated here. Abbreviations are not crap... just a faster way to say things. There is a difference between communicating with my friends and writing a job application. Here, I don't really care about punctuations and spellings, provided they are just good enough to get the message across.
Your point is certainly noted but don't expect naijahotjobs to metamorphose into some highfalutin language forum for the 'refined and elite' only. It is simple and totally works that way. If you have something helpful, feel free to drop it in flawless English. I'm sure we'll figure out the meaning somehow.

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Originally Posted by Lionleo

By this statement, do you mean only people who share your thoughts can reply? Well, sorry if I don't precisely fit into that description. Ighoeve, this is an 'informal' forum where facts and ideas are shared with particular regards to jobs in Nigeria- emphasis on 'informal'. No CVs are composed nor are applications collected in this forum. We only share helpful information. Hence, the most essential thing here is that the message is passed. If you question grammatical constructions, fine, but please, short spelling forms and pidgin are totally accommodated here. Abbreviations are not crap... just a faster way to say things. There is a difference between communicating with my friends and writing a job application. Here, I don't really care about punctuations and spellings, provided they are just good enough to get the message across.
Your point is certainly noted but don't expect naijahotjobs to metamorphose into some highfalutin language forum for the 'refined and elite' only. It is simple and totally works that way. If you have something helpful, feel free to drop it in flawless English. I'm sure we'll figure out the meaning somehow.

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Yeah, correct man, I really feel you. Thanks for your nice comment. It shows how refined you are; moreover, I was initially referring to people like you to reply to my post. I am also a native speaker of nija pidgin english. Some of una no speak pidgin pass me at all. :). If a person is speaking pidgin, then let him/her speak pidgin. Really, it just peeves me when I see words that should be spelt correctly, but are spelt wrongly. I am not talking about typos, just a deliberate act of wrongly spelling a word. You see my point. Again, thanks for you comment. Are you in the UK currently?

Ok... I laughed! Not much, just a teeny-weeny bit. I'm in Lagos (heard of the place? :)) It's not really a location thingy. You can still speak well right here. I've got to say thanks though, for the implicit compliment. And you are welcome.

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Originally Posted by jessejames

Hey mate! You write typically like someone who have not been outside the shores of your state or country.. I did my schooling in UK with most of my classmates & lecturers from around the world & could not even spell common words. Does that mean they're uninformed? or illiterate or not well educated?..You have to understand that English is not our first language & because its constantly been changed by the Oxford scholars,it means we can never be abreast with it.Please be guided in your reasoning as a typical write up or say abbreviation can not depict how educated or capable one would be in formal employment.Even here in Uk, Nigerians speak english better that the english people themselves so i have no idea what is bothering you...

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ike someone 'who have' not been :-[

'its' constantly been changed
:-[

You see what I mean. I have always said it, some schools in the UK are not good enough. Schools in Nigeria are much, much better. Yet, people go and spend all of their money to study there. Na them sabi sha.

GRAMMAR when we r lukin for jobs, una go kill person wil laf 4 dis forum

My Ighoeve guy dey yan pidgin small by small... natin do u sha! @ Aiken, all join sha, finally. :)

Thanks to all patriotic naija guys who love what we do here. You've read all you need to read.
You are against the use of abbreviations ,yet you did use such in your essay. e.g 210+ , CV.
Points you need to note:
The standard of living here isn't stable nor is it equal. Therefore not everyone has enough cash to go online and spend all in posting a job with fabulous ENGLISH! Therefore abbreviating a word remains the best form of communication, in forum's like this. After-all communication is sending encoded massages' or am i rung?
dude, u still try sha. But me i like d pidgin broken abeg...
Cheers

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Originally Posted by nedu4ocfon

Thanks to all patriotic naija guys who love what we do here. You've read all you need to read.
You are against the use of abbreviations ,yet you did use such in your essay. e.g 210+ , CV.
Points you need to note:
The standard of living here isn't stable nor is it equal. Therefore not everyone has enough cash to go online and spend all in posting a job with fabulous ENGLISH! Therefore abbreviating a word remains the best form of communication, in forum's like this. After-all communication is sending encoded massages' or am i rung?
dude, u still try sha. But me i like d pidgin broken abeg...
Cheers

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Your point is well noted. Not everyone has money to always browse at the cyber cafe. You see, we tend to forget the real situation of things when we are not in the place where those things normally take place, and this exactly is one of the limitations of human memory. I could remember what I went through before I got my first job in Nigeria. God dey!

@ighoeve....Am not going to write to impress you....But save your English Crap 4 urself....I av only 2 mins left on my timer so i no get time dey write grammer...This is a forum where Unemployed Graduates communicate....and attimes abbrevation and pidgin english passes the msg....If you no like my Flows..Go boil rock drink...Jor ooooo...
Shey you fit follow German speak english....U come dey give use bobo for here...I no believe ur Nestle STORY....You no get job thats why u fit write long post d analyse CRAP....

@Poster, do u expect smone posting from his/her cellphone 2 be obeying those ur grammatical stuffs? u beta take it or ..

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Originally Posted by NeversayDie

@ighoeve....Am not going to write to impress you....But save your English Crap 4 urself....I av only 2 mins left on my timer so i no get time dey write grammer...This is a forum where Unemployed Graduates communicate....and attimes abbrevation and pidgin english passes the msg....If you no like my Flows..Go boil rock drink...Jor ooooo...
Shey you fit follow German speak english....U come dey give use bobo for here...I no believe ur Nestle STORY....You no get job thats why u fit write long post d analyse CRAP....

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Ah bros, I think you are correct. Considering the fact that I just finished my thesis on gilt-edged/Yankee markets and am waiting to join an organization in Bielefeld, Germany, I really don't have what to do. But from your post, I can definitely see that 'some' of us in Nigeria still have a long, long way to go. This is not the first time that people have been advised on this forum not to directly or indirectly abuse one another. Anyway sha, God bless you. I wish you more than the excellent things that are currently happening to me outside our Nija. I really do understand unemployment and what it can turn people into :'(. I also suffered it for at most four weeks after NYSC before I landed my first job while in Nija. I left Nigeria because my gross salary per year was somewhere around 850k-1 milla and fortunately for me I got a fully funded offer to do graduate studies. I am saying all these to let you know I understand every every that is happening in Nija. :'(

CAN YOU SEE AGAIN? LAST IME A MEMBER FROM UK POSTED A SEEMINGLY POMPOUS RHETORIC, I TOLD HIM UNAPOLOGETICALLY TO GO AND KISS TRANSFORMER. HE TOLD ME THAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE COMMENTED INSTEAD OF EMBARRASSING HIM. WHY WOULDN'T YOU PEOPLE FROM UK BE EMBARASSED WHEN YOU TAKE US FOR FOOLS IN THIS FORUM? ARE YOU PEOPLE TAUGHT TO BE MERELY POMPOUSN IN LIEU OF REASONING? IGHOEVE, YOU KNOW THIS IS AN INFORMAL FORUM ALLOWS INFORMAL LANGUAGES BUT YOUR INTETION TO BOAST AND NARRATE A FICTIOUS SAGA BECLOUDED YOUR SENSE OF JUDGEMENT. WHAT A FALLACY YOU HAVE CARELESSLY PROVED TO THE HOUSE HERE THAT YOU ARE IN BEREFT OF WHAT IT ENTAILS. INSUNUITIVELY, YOU TOLD THE HOUSE THAT SOME OF US HERE CANNOT EXPRESS OURSELVES IN FLAWLESS ENGLISH. AT LEAST I PICTURED AN IRONY FROM THE BLUNDERS IN YOUR SYNTAX.
YOU ARE INCONSISTENT AND FEARFUL. YOU TEND TO COME DOWN LITTLE BIT HAVING OBTAINED THE INSULTS YOU DEMANDED FOR, BY TELLING US THAT YOU TOO UNDERSTAND PIDGIN AND STARTED USING THE CONTRATIONS AND ABBREVIATION YOU INITIALLY CONDEMNED. PERMIT ME TO SAY IT: YOU ARE SHAMELESS AND INDECISIVE.
OH!HAD YOU BEEN BETTER THAT WE ARE, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN OFFERED A JOB EARLIER THAN US EITHER IN UK OR HERE IN NAIJA. THOSE INFORMAL EXPRESSIONS YOU CONDEMNED ARE IN USE BY THE WHITES WHOSE LIFE STYLES YOU THINK IS BETTER. WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT WORDS LIKE :'YEAP', 'LOL',ETC?.
I DONT CARE IF YOU ARE ANGRY WITH ME TO HAVE TAKEN THIS PERSONALLY. THINKING THAT WAY WOULD BE A FLIMSY DEFENCE, RATHER ACCEPT YOUR DEFEAT.NO MATTER HOW ANYONE HAS USED LANGUAGE, TO AVOID FALLACY OF IMCOMPLTED ASPECT ON MY PART, KNOW THAT IT MIGHT BE DELEBERATE AND THAT DOES NOT PRESUPPOSE THAT WEAR E POOR IN EXPRESSING OURSELVES CORRECTLY. YOUR APOLOGY WILL BE WELCOME.

Ighoeve, already sent you a mail as requested and waiting patiently for your reply . . .
Hope to hear the good news you have for finance guys . . .

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Originally Posted by ajoratiyani

CAN YOU SEE AGAIN? LAST IME A MEMBER FROM UK POSTED A SEEMINGLY POMPOUS RHETORIC, I TOLD HIM UNAPOLOGETICALLY TO GO AND KISS TRANSFORMER. HE TOLD ME THAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE COMMENTED INSTEAD OF EMBARRASSING HIM. WHY WOULDN'T YOU PEOPLE FROM UK BE EMBARASSED WHEN YOU TAKE US FOR FOOLS IN THIS FORUM? ARE YOU PEOPLE TAUGHT TO BE MERELY POMPOUSN IN LIEU OF REASONING? IGHOEVE, YOU KNOW THIS IS AN INFORMAL FORUM ALLOWS INFORMAL LANGUAGES BUT YOUR INTETION TO BOAST AND NARRATE A FICTIOUS SAGA BECLOUDED YOUR SENSE OF JUDGEMENT. WHAT A FALLACY YOU HAVE CARELESSLY PROVED TO THE HOUSE HERE THAT YOU ARE IN BEREFT OF WHAT IT ENTAILS. INSUNUITIVELY, YOU TOLD THE HOUSE THAT SOME OF US HERE CANNOT EXPRESS OURSELVES IN FLAWLESS ENGLISH. AT LEAST I PICTURED AN IRONY FROM THE BLUNDERS IN YOUR SYNTAX.
YOU ARE INCONSISTENT AND FEARFUL. YOU TEND TO COME DOWN LITTLE BIT HAVING OBTAINED THE INSULTS YOU DEMANDED FOR, BY TELLING US THAT YOU TOO UNDERSTAND PIDGIN AND STARTED USING THE CONTRATIONS AND ABBREVIATION YOU INITIALLY CONDEMNED. PERMIT ME TO SAY IT: YOU ARE SHAMELESS AND INDECISIVE.
OH!HAD YOU BEEN BETTER THAT WE ARE, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN OFFERED A JOB EARLIER THAN US EITHER IN UK OR HERE IN NAIJA. THOSE INFORMAL EXPRESSIONS YOU CONDEMNED ARE IN USE BY THE WHITES WHOSE LIFE STYLES YOU THINK IS BETTER. WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT WORDS LIKE :'YEAP', 'LOL',ETC?.
I DONT CARE IF YOU ARE ANGRY WITH ME TO HAVE TAKEN THIS PERSONALLY. THINKING THAT WAY WOULD BE A FLIMSY DEFENCE, RATHER ACCEPT YOUR DEFEAT.NO MATTER HOW ANYONE HAS USED LANGUAGE, TO AVOID FALLACY OF IMCOMPLTED ASPECT ON MY PART, KNOW THAT IT MIGHT BE DELEBERATE AND THAT DOES NOT PRESUPPOSE THAT WEAR E POOR IN EXPRESSING OURSELVES CORRECTLY. YOUR APOLOGY WILL BE WELCOME.

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As I earlier said, 'some' of us lack understanding and I owe you no apology, okay. I wish you good luck in your search for a great job. I understand frustration is not good. You will succeed!

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Originally Posted by chakaz

@Poster, do u expect smone posting from his/her cellphone 2 be obeying those ur grammatical stuffs? u beta take it or ..

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Hi,
No, I don't expect. Read through my previous posts and you will see that I am just against wrongly spelt words, not correctly contracted words or pidgin. You see what I mean. Some of us (see the post after yours) don't even know what contraction is in the English language. Please, tell me, are these things below contractions?

xpect for expect
c for see
kompany for company

It never cease to amaze me when i read some response to Post on this forum. Why do some people takes pleasure in abusing other guys because they posted some info on this forum? you don't have to agree with what others says; but you must have the courtsey to keep your mouth shut....Besides the gentleman is making a very important point and you're abusing him for it.

I think i know why some of you behave in this manner; most of you felt guilty of what was being said and you were trying to cover up for your grammatical bankruptcy(otherwise, why would anyone be against what that dude said??)
I'd like to admonish my fellow gradutes; Please, stop acting like illitrates(you can politely keep your mouth shut if you don't have valuable things to say..)....You know, there is a common saying in my office "You can take the man away from the bush, but you can't take the bush out of the man"
on a lighter note, Guys! let us learn from ourselves and stop condemning others.....

@Ighoeve, the moment i saw your post i knew it would raise a lot of dust. But the sad truth is that you are right because most of us got use to using these abbreviations in text messages, and its becoming part of us. They may not want to admit to it, but believe me sometimes i find myself abbreviating before correcting myself even when writing formal stuffs. My advice, you have passed your message people like us would listen and others wont. Most Humans generally do not like to be correctd expecially in public places, instead they on the defence. The truth must be told and if you have any say it. For those who feel inferior to our u.k. studying mate there is no need to, you are here because you have decided to be here in Nigeria. And they are in the u.k. because they wanted and fought to be there. So let them be. I pray we all find our dream jobs so we can at least have a reason to be happy and stop all this anger.

Oopsie! It got hot! We have those who possess an enviable mastery of the language just as there are those whose command is faulty, to say the least. But I believe this is typical of any complete society not a special Nigerian ailment. Even in England, I'm sure u have a complete spectrum of varying communication abilities. But c'mon guys (ladies too)... we are all entitled to our opinions and there's freedom of speech here. If u don't like it here, u have ample options to express ur dissension without getting nasty. U don't have to take in everything u hear but if u do listen, u just might pick a few helpful nuggets in the process. Learning never ends... BE OPEN!

And oh, Ighoeve, it's N-A-I-J-A!

:o :o :o :o

@Ig, u can c dat lotsof guyz wryt well here!! If u no like my Broken english/abri., u better come back naija com conduct SEMINAR on......'lol'
Cheers dude u try.

Hello everybody,

What a heated debate so far!

Thanks for the plethora of emails you inundated me with. Please keep them coming. I will answer everything. As one guy earlier noted, I am currently 'jobless' and looking for how to waste my time.

I agree that Nigerian graduates get jobs. I also had a goodish one before I left. In fact, I know of many, many people, that we graduated together, who now work for big oil/multinational companies in Nigeria. They all studied in Nigeria and never went abroad. I also know of many jobless graduates abroad, especially in the UK that is a saturated place, who are Nigerians. It is really not a bad thing to study in Nigeria, I also did study in Nigeria and that is somehow giving me an edge here now because I am viewed as competitive in just about anything I do, even though I was not the best student while in Nigeria. However, the goal of studying abroad is to widen your chances. Some months ago, I did the Standard Chartered Bank Graduate Development Programme stuff and they even conducted an interview with me on phone. I am sure that would have been a tall dream if I were not currently where I am. If I had finished my graduate studies then, may be I would have been with them today. The HR manager personally asked me if I would be coming to Nigeria in December, but I said no. I have no regrets sha because I am now better of. See, guys, if one has a good job in Nigeria, let one continue working. If one has a job that pays far less than 100K per month and later gets a scholarship to go and study abroad, one should immediately resign and go abroad to study. There are many things we can do with international qualifications, especially qualifications from universities in the top 300 world rankings. First, if your dream is to do a PhD at the best university you can possibly think of, then an international degree will help you do that. Gone are the days when people with any degree from any Nigerian universities were sponsored to go and study in Harvard. Even PTDF and the likes, as you all know, are not that easy anymore. Second, if your dream is to land the best possible job anywhere in the world, then an international degree will help you do just that. The limits are boundless (mathematicians, is this well said?). Finally, studying abroad makes you break the barrier of obtaining a visa to any countries forever. You can easily attend conferences here and there. Your visa will be stamped every time. Getting a US visa was a piece of cake for one of my Ghanaian colleagues here. She just went there for a conference, stayed for just three weeks and came back. She has forever sealed the deal of getting a US visa. I could go on and give many, many more examples of several people. I would have used my own example again, but I don't want to sound pompous. For me, getting any visa is now a piece of cake for me forever and ever, Amen. Again, this does not imply that it is impossible to do well with a degree from our local universities in Nigeria. My elder brother went to one of the worst state universities in Nigeria where cult activities were the order of the day. Yet, he was able to secure a job with one of the top multinational companies in Nigeria, B.. T.b..co, where he worked for years and made some cool cash before he resigned and went to study at one of the respectable schools in the world.

Some of us on this forum just have a natural beef for people studying outside the country. I for one, I never had a beef for anybody studying outside Nigeria even when I was in Nigeria. Why the beef? Do you think they are better than you are? Perhaps no; they are just privileged to study in the UK probably because their parents are rich or they had stellar grades during their undergraduate studies. No one is boasting about that studying in the UK is the best. UK schools saps people's money and yet some of them are just slightly better than what we have in Nigeria. In the language of mathematics, we say the difference between some UK schools and schools in Nigeria is epsilon, where epsilon is bigger than 0. I earlier said this, and I know what I am saying.

Finally, to those who share my reasoning and would like to get the study abroad information, please include in your emails the following details:

Undergraduate degree/final CGPA and class of degree/Alma mater

Proposed graduate programme(s)

Willingness to take the GRE/TOEFL


Thank you, God bless you all, God bless Africa and God bless Nigeria :).