A Nigerian nurse and TikTok content creator, known as Hajara Nurse, has sparked a heated online debate after sharing a candid career advice video in which she urged university aspirants to carefully consider their choice of courses, particularly pure science programmes such as Biology, Biochemistry and Microbiology.
In the viral video, Hajara, who revealed that she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology before returning to study Nursing, said her personal experience shaped her views about the employment prospects of some life science graduates in Nigeria.
“I know a lot of you don’t know that I have like a degree in biology before I went back to nursing school,” she said.
According to her, many graduates of certain pure science disciplines face serious challenges securing employment after graduation, especially those without strong professional networks or family connections.
“If you know your family is not very strong and you don’t have connections or anything, you have no business studying certain courses. And one of those courses is biology,” Hajara said.
She explained that her difficulties became more obvious after completing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), when she began searching for employment opportunities.
Hajara said employers often lost interest after seeing her academic qualification.
“No one wants to hire you. If you tell them B.Sc. Biology, then you’ll just see their face just drop. It’s like, you and them know that, okay, there’s no hope,” she said.
The experience, she said, influenced her decision to return to school and pursue nursing, a career path she described as more promising.
“I saw that with the biology degree that I had in Nigeria, I don’t have any prospect. That was one of my major push to go back to nursing school, and I’m so happy that I was able to do that,” she said.
Hajara advised prospective university students to research career opportunities before choosing their courses, warning them not to select programmes without understanding the realities of the job market.
“If you get courses like biology, biochemistry, microbiology, please don’t just — skip it. Skip it. I know a lot of people might want to come for me, but I know what I’m saying. This, I’m saying from experience,” she added.
Her comments have generated mixed reactions on social media, with many graduates of Biology, Microbiology and related disciplines sharing similar experiences about unemployment and career struggles after graduation.
Some users supported her position, arguing that Nigeria’s labour market remains difficult for many graduates in pure sciences, especially where opportunities in research, laboratories and academia are limited.
Others, however, disagreed with her assessment, defending the importance of science-based degrees and pointing to opportunities in research, healthcare, biotechnology, environmental sciences and postgraduate studies.
The debate has renewed discussions about career guidance, university course selection and the need for students to understand the relationship between academic programmes and available opportunities before making higher education choices.
