My Salary, My School Fees.

This article is not faith or religion based but before I go all lengthy, I would love to take an excerpt from the Holy Book: the Bible. I checked out Jer. 22:13 and it says: “Woe unto them that buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong that useth his neighbour’s services without wages and giveth him not for his work”. I further looked up the meaning of the word ‘Woe’ from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English to make my idea green of what the word meant and it gave me four meanings but I will highlight only one which says: ‘literary great sadness’. Now, various things can cause great sadness: it could be death in life or progressive business or the loss of anything generally; I mean a host of diverse things in life could cause great sadness. Mark the word-Great.

School fees are a great long-time investment: Imagine what you would have done with all the money that your parents or guardians gave you as fees if you calculated your fees from your play class, secondary school and up until till tertiary institution or even past it? Who knows, you might have replaced Dangote or Otedola or Trump by now or might just be getting there. It is a sick funny idea but I think it sometimes and laugh. Whether there is inflation or deflation or the devaluation or evaluation of a currency, one thing that is worthy of note is that there is always the circulation of money which is important above all the economy and socio-political grammar-drama. Salaries on the other hand are also a tremendous investment; in fact, my idea about salaries are something that will culminate after a desired period of time, you can tap yourself on the shoulder and be happy even though it might not seem rosy at the beginning or even in the middle.

I was messing around with one of my Sisters one day and I said this: “In School in those days, if you were not done paying your fees- (not that you haven’t paid at all though but you have paid and are even about to complete payment), they send you packing and do not even care where you will end-up; but how come when employers have not paid workers, we cannot do the same? Why are some employers so bold and comfortable that employees would stay and work for three months plus and they would not pay 1/64 of your salary or wages not to talk of a quarter then half”. My Sister laughed and was convinced that I had finally gone crazy. As funny or as naughty as it sounds, I feel that it is not a very bad idea and when my Sister asked: “So, you would send your Oga away and who would take charge of your office and organisation?” I said that’s a good question but someone would definitely take charge, other employees would organise themselves and find a way out”.

A friend of mine once came weeping to me, a very smart, young and pretty apple complaining bitterly on how she was practically used as a slave at work where she had to do office work and help her Boss go to the market to get things for her Boss’s wife and to add an earthquake to this volcanic eruption, her Boss finds her unforgivably attractive and has laid down unmentionable conditions for her to get her salary of over two months. As shocking as this news might sound, she still works in this so-called company hoping to get her salary. The only wrong she has done is to have stayed smart all her life and graduate with the best results and to trust in her struggles like any youth would hoping for blessings of a life time.

When I read Jer. 23:13, I became joyful for all the people or places I asked to work with and burn my blood and sweat for and they were grounded with the rules and belief that they were never going to give me a shilling no matter how hard I worked my body parts off. After I got an understanding of what that excerpt meant, I became relaxed on how monetary policies were used as excuses not to pay or remunerate employees/workers. People would mockingly exclaim: “O! There is inflation, O! There is deflation, O! The Yen has fallen, O! The Naira has risen or, you can work with us, but we would not pay you any thing because our organisation does not have enough capital; some excuses to not pay-up at all. How about you consider: O! It has risen but this and that worker needs transport fare or needs to eat or needs to feed his or her family. How about that?

It makes sense to always start small, believe in your struggles, learn from the grass roots and not be greedy about your earnings but when your aspirations of starting small are venturing into modern day slavery or exploitation, I am sure like a pendulum, this thought swings in your mind: “My School Fees, My Salary!” It is unrealistic to have this thoughts or ideas as some people would think or say but when you take a cold cup of water, sit back and think about it critically, the thought does count I tell you. It is a good thing to wait and hope prayerfully while you are at work in trying to achieve a beautiful tomorrow but generally speaking, beware of people or places that make you yell, ponder or scream: “My School Fees, My Salary!!!” And if you are there already, let Jer.22:13 be your consolation.