By Moses Olili
When news broke that over 1,000 young professionals had been deployed to NNPC Limited after completing a year-long internship and training programme, many Nigerians celebrated. For the beneficiaries, it was a well-earned reward after months of rigorous training and assessment.
They deserve every congratulation.
But beneath the celebration lies a conversation Nigeria can no longer avoid.
According to reports, the trainees were initially selected through referrals before entering the internship programme. There is nothing inherently wrong with referrals. Across the world, organisations rely on recommendations to identify promising talent.
The real question is this: What happens to equally qualified people who never receive that referral?
That is where Nigeria’s employment crisis extends beyond unemployment.
It becomes an issue of access.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of graduates leave Nigerian universities with degrees, professional qualifications and high hopes. They spend months—sometimes years—submitting applications, attending interviews and upgrading their skills, only to discover that many opportunities are already beyond their reach.
Not because they lack competence. But because they lack connections.
In Nigeria, merit often determines who succeeds.
Connections often determine who gets the opportunity to compete.That distinction matters.
Imagine two graduates with identical qualifications. One hears about an internship because a family friend works in the organisation. The other never hears about it or learns of it only after recruitment has closed.
If the first graduate excels during training and earns permanent employment, that achievement remains genuine. But the second graduate was denied something just as important—the opportunity to prove themselves.
Merit cannot triumph where access is unequal. The consequences go beyond individual disappointment. Every talented graduate overlooked because they lacked the right contacts represents a loss to the nation. Institutions miss out on fresh ideas, innovation and excellence when opportunities fail to reach the widest pool of capable applicants. Over time, this breeds frustration, fuels the “Japa” syndrome and reinforces the belief that success depends more on influence than ability.
This is why the phrase, “Who do you know?”, has become almost as important as “What can you do?” in Nigeria’s job market.
It is also why many young Nigerians increasingly believe that hard work alone is no longer enough.
To be clear, networking is not the enemy.
Professional relationships, mentorship and referrals exist in every successful economy. They can connect talented people with meaningful opportunities.
The challenge is ensuring that referrals open the door without closing it to everyone else. Opportunities, especially in public institutions and organisations with national reach, should be widely advertised and followed by transparent, competitive selection processes. That way, referrals become a pathway—not a privilege reserved for a select few.
No society reaches its full potential when opportunities circulate within the same networks while equally capable people remain invisible.Nigeria’s greatest resource is not oil.It is talent. That talent exists in public and private universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and communities across the country. The challenge is not finding capable people. The challenge is ensuring they all have a fair chance to be found.
The recent NNPC appointments should therefore spark two conversations.
The first is to celebrate the young Nigerians whose hard work earned them permanent employment.
The second is to ask how many other qualified Nigerians never had the opportunity to stand at the same starting line. Connections may open doors. But the strength of any nation is measured by whether those doors are open only to the connected—or to everyone with the ability to walk through them.
