BETWEEN NEYMAR AND BILL GATES - DON'T BE DECIEVED
Well, it is no longer news that last week Thursday, August 3rd, 2017 the biggest contract ever in the history of world football was signed. Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior officially signed for Paris Saint Germain from Spanish giant Barcelona after they met his buyout clause of €222M. Hours later the news of his weekly earnings of about €515,000 or 248 million naira broke the internet. have made out of it here at home.
Now, if Neymar without a WAEC result (according to those who claim to know) earns 248 million per week, how much does Bill Gates (who actually went as far as Harvard) earn? Mind you, Bill Gates went to school as far as Harvard, the whole talk of him dropping out is widely misrepresented. He didn't drop out because he was not good enough, he didn't drop out because he was irresponsible, in fact he had a meeting with the school authority when it became obvious that he needed more time to work on the Microsoft idea and in his exact words he told the school that he was going on a 'leave of absence' and should return if the idea failed to work as planned. He didn't leave the school empty, he left with the knowledge he had acquired, he left having made friends and built a network of like minds, he left having access to mentors from the school (for me, these are some of the most important reasons of going to university in the first place, and not just for that paper called certificate). With that knowledge and skill acquired directly or indirectly by going to school, Bill Gates was able to build Microsoft and in 2013 he earned 11.5 billion dollars in a single year. That figure would give you 1.38 million dollars per hour. What it means is that the 248 million naira Neymar earns in a week is what Bill Gates earns in 30 minutes.
Don't be deceived.
Why would I rather be a Bill Gates than a Neymar? Why would I rather point my kids to Bill Gates than to Neymar? It is simple. If you go by the figures, you have already seen it above. If you want to look at the future, then you will know that Neymar is 25 today, but will he still be playing football at this level at 35? What if in an unfortunate situation where he breaks his leg tomorrow (no one prays for that, but it does happen), that will be the end of everything, football doesn't even provide for pension or gratuity. But Gates can sleep for the rest of his life and the billions will keep flowing because alert has been set on auto run, he has 'programmed' his business directly into his bank account - with his knowledge (you need education to set up that kind of system). What if you are looking at relevance and significance, how many millionaires have Neymar made or will he ever make in his lifetime? Bill Gates has made 3 billionaires and over 12,000 millionaires.
I asked someone what Neymar will do with this money, and he said Neymar already has a private jet, now is the time to get a yacht and start paying for the penthouse of all the 5-star hotels in the world. Do you think someone who is well schooled will choose to spend the money that way?
Don't be deceived.
Education is still the key, education is still superior, education has birthed technology and technology is where the money is and not football. The most valuable club in the world according to Forbes 2017 rating is Manchester United and they are worth a whopping 3.69 billion dollars to edge both Barcelona and Real Madrid. But how whopping is that compared with the worth of Apple, Google, or Microsoft? In fact the total worth of the top 20 football clubs in the world (including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, PSG, Arsenal, Manchester City, Juventus, Liverpool) is 29.6 billion dollars. Mark Zuckerberg can simply pull out a cheque from his back pocket and buy those 20 clubs without even discussing with the board of Facebook (that sounds like an insult but that is the fact). That is how powerful ideas are, that is how powerful knowledge can be, that is how powerful education can be. What would you rather choose for your child?
Don't be deceived.
The standard of education in Nigeria has dropped so badly that it is beginning to lose its relevance, but rather than turn our backs on it completely, rather than encourage our children not to go to school, rather than insult it the more, we should champion a course on how to make it what it ought to be and more attractive. We should teach our children the real importance of education and not just to come out and get a good job.
Trends are changing, the world has evolved and our educational system must evolve and not allowed to dissolve.
Don't be deceived. Send your children to good school if you can afford it, and after that allow him or her the freedom of choice and if he or she chooses to play football he will be buying football clubs and earning 10x what Neymar earns today.
I choose to go to school, learn how to build and buy existing businesses. I choose to go to school, learn how to employ the grace God has given me to serve humanity. I choose to go to school and learn how best my ideas can be a solution to the problems of the society.
What do you choose, for yourself and for your kids?
Don't be deceived.
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