CHAPTER THREE

I MOVED UP HIGHER

I gained admission to study Mass Communication in 2005. I was 16 years old then. It was an exciting experience ever. Being that I had never left home that far to study, my parents were quite skeptical but they prayed with me months before resumption and also gave me different tips needed to scale in school. The whole lines of; “don’t join bad gang, remember the daughter of whom you are…” were constantly sounded to my ears. Gratefully, I had a cousin who lived with us since we were kids, my house was popularly called hostel or church house because of the number of people that lived there freely and a church was built in my compound. I could recall we slept on bunk beds just like a proper hostel setting. This cousin in mention was already schooling at MAPOLY so he received me and was sure to police me around to ensure that I was untouchable.

In just two weeks, I was done with the registration and began living with an aunt whose family lived in the city. Mass communication shaped my loved for writing more because we were always asked to transcribe new stories. My love for arts and creativity grew in leaps too. I would come home every weekend and narrate how my week went to my family. The height of living my dream for me was doing my SIWES at MITV Lagos. Oh! I loved each moment spent there. During the six month SIWES, I lived with an uncle in Agege, Lagos State for close proximity to the TV station. Going for beat, news casting, vox pop, interviews, transcribing news stories, etc were all highlights of my stay there. But over time, I noticed that most of the media personnel went broke easily. Many of them survived on borrowing before receiving the next pay check, and the manner at which they fought over brown envelope after each special event left me in complete awe. My exposure to some extremely harsh reality of the profession discouraged me from the initial lofty dreams I had about journalism. Somehow, I found my interest gradually shifting towards becoming a lecturer and business mogul and I began to make plans in that direction.

After the completion of my National Diploma, I started seeking admission into the University in pursuance of my new dream, coupled with the disparity between obtaining an HND and B.Sc certificate. I learnt from my parents never to enforce your will on a child, rather allow him or her freedom to make decisions inasmuch as they do not have a negative effect on the child. In the light of that, I eyed Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria because I had read a lot about the school and was also willing to explore life outside Ogun State where I had always lived. So, I travelled to Abu Zaria for my post UTME, wrote the exam but the result was not favourable as I wasn’t shortlisted. I wrote another JAMB and applied to OAU, Ife to study English language, yet I wasn’t shortlisted. I proceeded to Ogun State University, now Olabisi Onabanjo University, wrote the post JAMB and was again rejected. The constant rejection was already getting to me, so, I told my parents to allow me learn fashion (my mind never left it for a second) and forget schooling, an idea which they blatantly kicked against. In their words; “so, in future when you see your mates become bankers, lawyers, doctors and what have you, will you be proud to say you are a tailor with National Diploma. If you will be, no problem, you have our consent, but that is not what we want for you.”

I summoned more courage and tried University of Lagos, UNILAG where I was also not offered admission. At this point, my parent started considering private university but the financial commitment was high. Dad then started researching on missionary schools with affordable fees and that was how he came across Crawford University. My sister finished from the Polytechnic a year before me and was already admitted into this same university, thus sponsoring another child there seemed like an impossible task but they were left with no option as federal and state universities were not forth coming. In fact, I already lost interest that I had begun fashion design training. However, to my utmost surprise, my parents by God’s grace did it and I joined Crawford University as a Direct Entry Student in 2008, ultimately leading to another chapter of my life.

Crawford University developed my interest more in reading and teaching. Since it was a fully residential school, I discovered that I had all the time in the world to do nothing other than reading. My Lecturers discovered my excellent teaching spirit and encourage me to do more. At every assignment where we were to do a demo teaching, I usually came top of my class. When other course mates had gone to the hostel, I usually stayed behind to read. Oh! How I read like my life depended on it for survival. I enjoyed lecturing and was always fascinated by my lecturers whenever they lectured us and the desire to be a professor came alive in me.

While in 300level, it was time to elect new executives for my departmental association, I eyed contesting for the post of president, leaving many wondering why a female newbie like me would contest with a male old student. But I was undaunted until my lecturers advised me otherwise with reasonable points. I decided to run for the post of Vice President, yet I had to contend with another female old student who was already known and more social than I was. I contested nonetheless, wowed the audience at the manifestos and won with a clear margin during the voting exercise. The feeling was amazing and I was extremely happy. The responsibility didn’t debar me from studying hard neither did my grade points drop.

My prestigious institution never allowed students use any form of jewelry or enhancement like make up, artificial hair, short sleeve clothes, trouser, short skirt and the likes. It was a 100% missionary school owned by the Apostolic Faith Church. As a result, I thought about how to make money from the obvious needs of my female course mates who did not seem comfortable with the style of the school, and also to augment my needs in school, considering the load already on my parent. I decided to write to the Dean of student affairs through my house mistress, stating a number of reasons I should be permitted to sell in my hostels simply because I did not want to be caught violating the rules of the school in that regard and the good news was, I was granted permission. I started selling hair accessories, brooches, sandals and other ‘lawful’ enhancement. The business helped me save more and also relief my parents of the financial burden they bore over us. Upon graduation, I invested the proceeds from my business in school into acquiring my first landed property.

In final year, I already had my best lecturer advising me to go straight for my master’s degree because I had all the necessary prospects to pull through, after which I could easily return as an Assistant Lecturer and begin my dream of becoming a renowned professor. Dad made it a point of duty to check on us fortnightly, he would bring goodies, pray with us, and engage us in small talks, especially me. It was always a delight having him around. By the way, I am a complete doppelganger of him and so we love ourselves so much.

On my convocation day, it was such an honour to be called on to the podium and handed an award as the best graduating student with the highest CGPA in my department. Lines were no doubt falling in pleasant places for me and I could not be more proud of myself. From the onset, I had the understanding that not spelling out what you desire in a thing before beginning it will only make you accept anything it brings, so I set a goal of graduating top of my class even before I gained admission to the university and I got more than I set.