My Shaky, Curvy Journey To Academic Uplift

I left secondary school full of hopes. I was confident that I would gain admission to a higher institution immediately after secondary.

I wrote UME (University Matriculation Examination) four times. It was UME then not UTME.

Meanwhile, it was only once I scored less than 200.

I gained admission to the university five years after I left secondary school despite the fact that I wrote WAEC and NECO once.

In the course of those years, my eyes saw shege.

I used to run away from my secondary school mates who were in school.

I was ashamed of myself.

I would stay indoors and cry.

At a point, I was in charge of my mum’s business. I would take crates of eggs to Niger State to sell. I would board trailer/truck. Sometimes, we would sleep on the road.

Then, people concluded that my mum had handed over the business to me, and they believed I would not further my education.

They said this to my face. It was everyone’s conclusion.

However, I was resolute. I was bent on going to school. There were times I journeyed to some schools in search of admission without informing my parents.

There was a time I was almost duped; my original results were seized by someone that wanted to process admission for me. My parents had to intervene.

In my fourth attempt at writing UME, I scored 270. I was excited; I thought admission would be almost automatic.

Friends, I almost didn’t get admitted. At that point, I wanted to give up.

I remember the day I did post UTME at U.I, I told my sister that would be my last trial.

I was done.

Eventually, I gained admission to the University of Ibadan.

Today, I have two Master’s degrees and I am currently on my PhD.

Right now, I am ahead of most of my friends in academic qualifications.

Let my story encourage you that God is on your matter.

If you feel you are behind, I have a strong feeling that you will overtake. I’m sure of that.

I overtook all my secondary school friends that were ahead of me then.