PROLOGUE
The young man sits on the plastic chair in front of
the Newspaper vendor’s stand, he opens the “Daily Report” newspaper that he has
just bought and flips through the pages. His eyes falls on a bold headline in
page 5 which reads: “Federal government creates 1.2 million jobs in 2013 –
Minister”. The young man frowns and his face becomes animated, he angrily
exclaims; “barefaced liars! kleptomaniacs! Looters!” and quickly turns over to
the sports column on the back page.
Angela Peters was a graduate of physics from the university of Benin.
She graduated four years ago and ever since then she had been in search of a good
job. Being the only graduate in a family of five children came with
responsibilities, she was looked up on as a bread winner of the family. After
two years of searching in the “favour market” and not being able to secure any
good job, she decided to take up a temporal teaching job in a private secondary
school. The job was offered to her by a church member. The school was “Gifts
Academy”.
Her job description was teaching Mathematics and Physics at a
salary of twenty thousand naira per month, it was the only option to take and
was termed “hustling”. When she looked around, she saw that most of her
colleagues were still roaming the streets. She was lucky to even have something
to hold on to.
When she got her first paycheck she was excited but it didn’t take
her long to discover that the money could barely keep body and soul together. With
parents in the village to support and other family pressures mounting, the
amount could barely sustain her. Two years on the job and she was tired.
“Angela don’t you think we should start looking around for a wealthy
man to marry us?” Susan jokingly asked as she pared her long slender nails.
Susan Oko was Angela’s colleague, she shared the same table with
her in the staff room and was also in the same situation with her. Susan taught
Agricultural science.
It was a Friday afternoon and was getting close to 3pm, they had
both stayed back in the staff room to take care of some unfinished work.
“Maybe, but you know no man wants to marry a liability these
days, don’t you know that men are now gold diggers seeking for already made
babes?” Angela countered.
They both laughed.
“Angela its true o, imagine Jude keeps on asking me what my
father does for a living” Susan said shaking her head.
“Susan I am tired of this job, babe its just too stressful, look
at the heap of test scripts i have to mark and record today”, I don’t even like
this room!”.
They both took a look at
the room….a wide rectangular shaped room, with creamy tiles on the floor, tables
and chairs placed close to each other, packets of chalk on each table, books
piled on top of shelves, nine windows with three louvres missing, four rusty
looking ceiling fans that blew hot air. They stared at the corner of the roof
that leaks whenever it rains, a bucket was positioned underneath the hole to
collect the rain water.
Not the ideal working environment huh? Susan asked.
“Yes babe, this is not what i envisaged when i was in school, this
is not my dream corporate office….but will i ever work in such an environment
with the present situation of things in this country? Angela sighed in
resignation as she leaned back on her chair.
“You complain too much Angela, we will get there someday, we
will get there, Susan patted her consolingly on the shoulder.
Home is where the heart is. Angela’s home was a one bedroom flat
in Obonjo street, Benin, a 15 minutes walk from the school premises. She was
lucky to have gotten the place two years ago when it was relatively cheap. The
room was big and spacious with two windows which was one of the features that
made her chose the room as she liked an airy environment. The white walls were
crusty and needed repainting, hanging on the walls were her framed graduation
picture, two landscape wall paintings, a tiny wall clock that nestled
comfortably on the wall, a calendar which she sometimes forgot to turn over at
the end of the month. A 21 inches television set, a gift from John her cousin
was on the wooden tv stand, the small space underneath it occupied by a small
dvd player and Cd plates of Nollywood movies. Her bed was basically a thick
mattress lying on the thin plastic carpet on the floor in front of the wardrobe
closet. The kitchen was a tiny room where kitchen utensils held sway.
Angela was rinsing some clothes and hanging them at the washing
line at the backyard when she heard the message tone on her phone that Saturday
afternoon.
“Oh no, another annoying etisalat sms” she sighed and wiped her wet
hands on her skirt. She reluctantly picked up the Nokia C3 phone lying on the
stool.
Her heart began racing and did a double take when she saw the
name of the sender of the message; Pristine bank.
The message read;
“You are invited to an aptitude test with Pristine bank on Saturday
9th Nov 2013 by 9am, Venue: Pristine bank conference hall, Williams street,
Agege, Lagos. Come with your writing materials”.
Pristine bank!!! Pristine bank was one of the mega banks in the
country, it was every graduate’s dream to work with them as they hired only
from the pool of best available hands and the salaries of their staff were six
digits figures. Three months ago she had applied at their online portal when
they advertised for new intakes into their prestigious graduate trainee
program, with her second class upper degree, she felt she had a good chance of
getting a spot.
“Susan, I got an invite last weekend from Pristine bank for an
aptitude test this Saturday” she shared the good news with Susan on Monday morning
during lunch break.
“Wow! Shebi the one you applied for 3 months ago? Congrats!”
“Susan abeg I need to prepare, show me the way, i am a very
rusty”
Susan was a veteran of aptitude tests.
“You have to revise Gmat questions, all the quantitative, qualitative, verbal reasoning
and logic stuff, come to the house this evening and pick up some of my past
questions & answers.
“Thanks babe”.
“Angela before you leave for Lagos, you should attend prayer
meeting in my church and take the blessings of God for the exams. You know the
spiritual world controls the physical world”…that was Susan inviting Angela to
church on the eve of her departure to Lagos for the test.
“No, I’ve prayed to God in my room and I am sure he has heard me”,
Angela countered.
Susan was a veteran of churches, she was fond of moving from one
church to the other seeking help for her numerous/imagined problems. However due
to Susan’s insistence, Angela reluctantly followed her. She suspected that it
was probably a white garment church that they were going to.
Angela had an eerie feeling as soon as they stepped inside the
church’s building. It was a small building constructed with bamboo rafters. The
room was crowded with the worshippers, Angela and Susan managed to find a seat
at the back. The pastor had a thickset body physique with a face that radiated
spirituality, he dangled a bell in his hands which he occasionally rang to
silence the crowd. It was a white garment church. Prayers were at high pitch
and threatened to pierce through the flimsy ceiling to heaven but came to an
instantaneous end whenever the pastor rang the bell. The songs were shrill and
the worshippers danced vigorously to the beats of the drumsets manned by two
rough looking boys.
“What is he doing? Angela nudged Susan as she watched the pastor
move towards the front row holding a bowl n his hands.
“Oh that is holy water, it is gotten from river Ganges in India,
he is going to sprinkle it on us, it is very powerful!”. Susan whispered enthusiastically.
“India? Jesus! this is a fetish place…I am leaving” Angela
declared.
“Come on gir,l the water is harmless, it carries blessings!”
“No”, Angela said as she backed out and walked out of the
building.
Angela found it difficult to concentrate on the Gmat textbook
she held in her hand while waiting for “God is good” bus which she had boarded
to take off from the motor park. Susan had seen her off at the park although she was not still pleased
with her abrupt departure from the church. The park was a beehive of
activities; Hawkers milling around calling out and cajoling passengers to buy
their wares, beggars begging with their bowls, “men of God preaching &
praying with megaphonic voices and afterwards asking for donations to support
the “work of God’, loud music blaring from the music records sales shops. She
bought a wrap of Gala and a bottle of lacasera from a young girl with sad
looking eyes. She had made arrangements to spend the night in Lagos at Efe’s
place. Efe was a family friend and would accommodate her. As the driver started
the car, she closed her eyes and said a silent prayer, her journey into the
corporate world was underway.
Pristine bank conference hall the venue of the test was located
opposite the corporate headquarters of the bank at Williams street, Agege,
Lagos. It was a multi-purpose hall with a seating capacity of 2000. Angela
alighted from the taxi and walked towards the venue, it was 8:30 am. From a
distance she could see the massive crowd of fellow aptitude test invitees, “is
this a bazaar or a carnival?” she asked herself because it looked like every
available space was filled up with people.
“Excuse me bro are you for the test?” she tapped a young man
standing in front of her.
“Yes” everybody you see here are for the test. He slowly replied
with a quizzical look on his face.
Angela took a close look at the crowd, some were poring over their
books doing last minute revisions, she saw nervous faces, the overly confident
look of those with connections, the “can we get this done with” enthusiastic
faces of the fresh faced graduates just out from university, the cautious “I have
been through this before” disposition of the veterans and shook her head, the
unemployment statistics in the country was very high.
Pristine bank prides itself for efficiency and timeliness, right
on the dot of 9 am, the bank officials conducting the test started the process
of calling the candidates into the hall, they read the names from a masterlist.
Curiously there were more gatecrashers than invited candidates and the gatecrashers
were all turned away.
The seating arrangement was two candidates per table, each
seated on the opposite side.
The guy Angela tapped earlier was coincidentally seated with
her.
“Hi I am Tayo” he introduced himself.
“Im Angela” she replied.
“Feeling nervous?” he asked.
“I guess a little”.
“Look its going to be okay”.
The questions were just what she expected: Gmat, 50 questions 40
minutes.
“How was it” Tayo asked her as they walked out of the hall on
completion of the test.
“It was okay, although the logic questions got me puzzled.”
“Same thing with me, logic questions are always tricky” Tayo
said…..”is this your first test with Pristine bank?
“Yes, what about you?” she asked.
“No, this is my second time”.
They exchanged numbers. Tayo wanted to know if she stayed within
Lagos, Angela wanted to get back to Benin the same day.
“Safe journey’ a whatsapp message from Tayo. He had added her on
whatsapp already. Fast guy.
Susan fussed over Angela when she arrived from Lagos, she wanted
to know all the details of the test.
“It was okay Susan, I am hoping for the best’. Angela kept on
telling her.
Mr Biodun James the personnel manager, Pristine bank corporate
headquaters took another look at the list of names submitted to him by the It
department on his computer monitor. Out of 1,000 candidates that took the test,
only 200 had the required score of 70 marks. The bank only needed 50 new staff to man the new branches in Port harcourt, Uyo
and Abeokuta. The problem now was how to choose 80 names to invite for the next
stage of the recruitment process. He shook his head wearily, he was fatigued
and had been running a google search on the names on the list, hoping to get red
flags on some of the names to enable him eliminate them from the list. This was
one aspect of his job that he hated. He closed the program window. He will
continue tomorrow.
New text message: “You were successful in the aptitude test. You
are invited to an oral interview with Pristine bank ltd on Saturday 23 november
2013, come with the originals and four photocopies of your credentials.
“Thank you Jesus!! Angela screamed, I made it to stage 2!!
Another trip to Lagos was underway, Angela was pleased that Gift’s
academy was on break for the renovation of some facilities, giving her time to
pursue this job runs.
The crowd had been drastically whittled down at this stage. The
successful candidates all looked sauve and dapper in their suits and corporate
wear. Angela was glad to meet Tayo who was also shortlisted.
“Tayo with this your dressing they’ll just make you a manager
straight away!” she teased him, he gave her a weak smile that betrayed his
nervousness.
Angela’s interview was straight forward. There were 5 members of
the panel. The head of human resources, two women and two stern looking men who
gave her unfriendly looks.
One of the men with beady eyes took a hard and long stare at her
degree certificate, he flipped it casually in his hands and tossed it onto the
table.
In her mind Angela was screaming “Treat my certificate with a
little respect you jerk! I spent 5 long years to acquire it!!”.
“Miss Angela Odion you are a physicist, why do you want to work
with Pristine bank? The Hhr asked her, his face looked warm and encouraging and
she launched into an answer.
Two quick follow up questions came from two female panelists and her time was
up.
Thank you miss Angela you’ll hear from us.
As she walked out of the room she glanced at the well polished
mahogany tables and chairs, the smooth and shining tiles, she knew her entry
into the corporate world was just a matter of days.
All the candidates were interviewed and they all waited nervously
in anticipation for the final result of the interview, they had been informed
that the list of successful candidates were to be pasted same day.
“Let’s celebrate!” Tayo said to her, “there’s a joint somewhere
down the street where we can eat barbecued fish garnished with shrimps, tomato
and onion rings”.
“Tayo you have a high taste for good things, are you sure you
are only an applicant?”
“Its nothing!!! I am just feeling good”.
The list of successful candidates was out, she and Tayo had made
it. Stage 2 was over!
Angela was however a little sober as she felt the pain of the
unsuccessful candidates, she had tried to hold back tears as one of the
rejected female applicants had created a scene weeping profusely begging the
manager to employ her as a cleaner in the bank as the bank job was her last
hope.
Her mood got uplifted when they got to Bakem’s place, the bubbly
atmosphere made her carefree and in no time she was nodding her head and
swaying her body to the beat of the music blaring on the sound system…
“For this dance you go do shakara
oya wind your waist like this
like that, to the back
to the front
Skelewu…skelewu…skelewu!”
“Ladies and gentlemen I congratulate you on your success at the
interview stage”….Mr Biodun James the personnel manger was addressing the 50 successful
candidates a day after the interview in the conference room. The would be trainees
were all eager to hit the ground running.
“Management has reviewed the recruitment process this year, before
you get to the prestigious Pristine bank training school, you will have to
demonstrate that you are capable of withstanding the rigors and
responsibilities that comes with modern day banking operations. Basically you
will have to source for customers to open 10 accounts with at least 100,000
naira in each account. Your target is 1 million naira and you have two weeks
starting from today”.
They all let out gasps and gave each other uneasy looks.
“Sir does this mean we are now auxillary staff of Pristine bank pending when we will go into the
training school?” a tall bespectacled fellow seated at the back asked.
“No my good man you are all still in the recruitment process,
this is stage three. Remember you have two weeks to raise one million naira,
you will be given the 10 account forms as soon as I leave this room, remember
its one million naira or nothing! Have a nice day people”. he walked out of the
hall with a sly smile on his face.
“This is exploitation! They are crazy! They should have told us
this right from the beginning! The displeasure rang out from all the 50
candidates, their cool and debonair looks were now replaced by frightened and looks
of uncertainty.
Angela was in a daze, one million naira! Where in the world was
she going to find that kind of money in two weeks? Heck! raising 50 thousand
naira was almost an impossible task right now. Her dream of working in a
corporate organization was about to be snatched away from her….
(To be continued)
