6 Ph.D, 704 Masters And Over 8,460 Bachelor Degree Holders Apply To Be Truck Drivers In Dangote Group

It was almost unbelievable when Dangote Group announced that it received a staggering 13,000 applications from graduates for employment as truck drivers. And the most heartbreaking is the fact fact of the 13,000 applications received for the Graduate Executive Truck Driver positions, there were 6 Ph.D, 704 Masters and over 8,460 Bachelor degree holders.
Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said that the company only needed 100 drivers, but received the overwhelming applications.

Vanguard reports that at a mentorship meeting of the World Bank Youth Forum recently, Mr Dangote said that most of the applicants were from reputable universities and had the needed quality.

“All these things are verifiable, and they all graduated from reputable institutions which is satisfactory; and our plan is to eventually make them self dependent.

“Despite the fact that the drivers get trip allowances on each trip along with their salaries, the arrangement is that they will own the trucks at no interests or repayments after they must have reached 300,000 kilometres, which is about 140 trips from Lagos to Kano and a hard working driver can complete in two years, while lazy ones can take maximum of four years.”

When Dangote Group first made the announcement for graduate drivers, there were speculations that the job came with a juicy monthly salary of N500,000. Whether this is true or not, it didn’t change the fact that the job position was still for a truck driver and I didn’t think so many people would be interested in it. But I was so wrong. 8,460 Bachelor degree holders, 704 Masters Degree holders and 6 PhD holders is definitely an overwhelming amount.

The general idea is that after obtaining a first degree, Masters degree or a PhD, one’s goal in life would be bigger than becoming a truck driver. But this large amount of applications has proven that theory wrong. So then, the question is this: is the high number of applications due to the high unemployment rate in the country or is it that some people just don’t know what to do with their degrees?