I remembered growing up, once in a while, my Dad would call us and talk to us about what he would like us to become in future. He specifically loved to have a medical doctor, a lawyer, petroleum engineer, and Nurse among his many children. We were close to two dozen, anyway. So, he could have at least 20 different professionals in a family if all he wished came to pass.
Unless you don’t have parents to openly discuss what they would like you to study in the higher institutions, Nigerian parents love some courses more than the others.
So, what are those university courses our parents want us to study?
Medicine
Even as a child, most of us fell in love with how medical doctors dress with their stethoscopes beautifully hung on their necks. It’s such a profound profession that our parents would call our attention to anytime we visited the hospital.
Nearly every typical Nigerian parent loves to have a medical doctor in their family, if not because of the ‘fat salary’ they thought they were earning, at least they believe that a medical doctor in the family would take care of any sick family member.
Law
The court or legal attire is captivating when they are fully dressed such that it’s difficult for them to be unnoticed. Many Nigerian parents love the way lawyers dress and how they defend their clients in court.
Apart from the legal attire, parents would like to have a lawyer to defend the interest of the family whenever the need arises. Having a legal representation who is a family member is a thing of pride Nigerian parents didn’t want to joke with. Even the brag that comes with “baba lawyer” i.e “Lawyer’s dad”, A typical Nigerian parent wants to have a lawyer as a child.
Nursing
Similar to medical doctors, Nurses are treated with so much respect in villages because of their importance to the well being of the community. In fact, a male nurse is called a doctor in some villages till date while they believe every female health practitioner who uses a stethoscope is a Nurse. That was the myth back then.
Nurses are more accessible and seem to be more homely and caring than medical doctors, which is one of the reasons sick villages prefer to run to them as medical doctors.
So, our parents were overwhelmed by the love for Nursing professionals. They want to have a nurse in the family to attend to their medical needs.
Civil Engineering
Even before civil engineering was studied as a course in the higher institution, there were old buildings to behold. So, there have always been builders. But knowing that civil engineering can be studied made parents fall in love more with the course. Which parent doesn’t want to be called “Mama engineer” or “papa engineer”?
Architecture
There were instances when parents would enroll their male child with any available local artisan architect to learn building drawing. This is particularly common among average parents who have some connections to influence contracts for their children.
Aeronautical engineering
Some of the Nigerian parents who want their kids to become a pilot may not really know the right course to study, they just want their child to fly airplanes and fly around the world.
Pharmacy
We know how our parents valued a local chemist in those days. They are the first point of call whenever their child shows symptoms of malaria or any other kinds of illness.
As such, pharmacy is one of the courses that a typical Nigerian parent wants their kid to study. It may not actually be for the brag, but for the fact that they want a family member they can easily call or run to for prescriptions and the kind of drugs to administer when they are ill.
Accounting/Economics/Banking and Finance
Graduates of courses such as Banking, Finance, Accounting, and Economics are some of the professionals that we used to believe could work in banks, hence the preference of our parents for these disciplines.
They want their child to be a banker. Even though the child may not be posted to the local area where their parents can have access to them, they still want someone in the family that could offer them financial advice and guide them on investment and money matters.
Computer Engineering
Computer engineering graduates can work in nearly all sectors of the economy. Parents know that the services of computer graduates are germane to development of key sectors.
Science Laboratory
There are some illnesses that require laboratory testing before physicians and pharmacists can prescribe drugs. Our parents, who have visited some of these labs, love the professionalism displayed by the science laboratory specialist and always dream that one day, one of their children will become a lab professional, who will be in charge of “discovering” diseases in any part of the family.
This list isn’t exhaustive, however, the above courses are majorly common Nigerian parents and they want their child to become one of them. It is very rare to see parents who want their kids to become teachers. I don’t know why.
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