Against all odds

From Average to Excellence:

Shocking revelations of the life of a young Nigerian Youth (Part 1; Episode 3: Against all odds.)

After sitting for the SSCE, Babajide proceeded to write the Joint Admission Matriculation Board examination (JAMB). Having gained enough momentum academically during his secondary school days, one would naturally expect that Babajide would pass his JAMB exceptionally. 

But here is a shocker,
Babajide wrote JAMB four times before he eventually gained admission to the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) to study Biology. Babajide during his early days in the university was privileged to have friends who were quite ahead of him academically. Those friends were on First class in school. Babajide recounted to have said “My closeness to Toba Abe of Electrical Electronics Engineering (EEE), Olorundayo of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering (MME) and some other seniors in FUTA, made me covet having a First Class degree as they were publicly respected and envied for being academically special. I didn’t know about the extended benefits of having such a grade at that time, but I loved the attention and fame it bestowed on those individuals. As a result, I put in every bit of me in my first year – I studied virtually every topic and spent many nights revising. I heard of the night classes but I avoided them and preferred reading at home (because I lived alone off campus) since I was aware that most students just go to the University halls and lecture theatres to sleep! I was also the type of student who hated studying in a noisy environment or in places where I can be easily distracted; therefore, I naturally considered night classes not an option for me”.

At this point, having observed the trend in Babajide’s life, I believe to say leaderships run in his veins would not be an understatement. Babajide, despite his cravings for a first class, held several leadership positions in FUTA during his undergraduate days. Some of which include General Secretary of the Departmental Association (Nigerian Association of Biology Students (NABS), FUTA Chapter) and a member of the Student Representative Council (SRC) of the FUTA Student Union Government (FUTASUG) in 2007, Chairman Budgetary and Finance Committee of the Legislative Arm of the Faculty student body which was known then as the Legislative Arm of School of Sciences (LASOS) (currently known as the Legislative Arm of the Nigerian Association of Science Students – LANASS) amongst others.

At some point in his life, his parents had marital issues and they had to part ways. Babajide’s mum was then responsible for catering for him and his other four siblings. It was a significant trying time for Babajide as he had to leave on stipends and could not really afford to meet both his needs and wants. So, days he had to soak garri without sugar, walk lots of kilometres to reach his destination characterised the bunch of his undergraduate days. But despite all the odds that were against Babajide, he managed to carefully follow success principles and over the course of 5 years, he offered 72 courses in total and grabbed 50As, 15Bs and 7Cs – Quite unbelievable even to me! He never had Ds, Es and Fs because he opined back then that, “A ‘C’ grade means carry over”, and one cannot have less than a ‘carry over’ so he ended up not having grades less than a C! Babajide graduated with a First class of C.G.P.A of 4.64 in 2010.  

The achievement wasn’t accidental it was carefully planned; sacrifices were made; desires waxed stronger in the midst of fluctuating performances; the optimism was unchanged! Those who knew him from Primary school often have their jaws drop each time they learn that he graduated with a First-class from a challenging university like FUTA. Babajide is a recipient of several awards both home and abroad.  The question is, how did he end up as such a success, considering the way he started as a child and all the failures he recorded? 
Babajide in his words said "There is no perfect or singular answer to that question. However, the long and tortuous journey taught me the following lessons:

(a)    Never give up even if the permutations before you show that you may not win. 

(b)   Stretching yourself will not break you; it will only reveal the real you to you.

(c)    Excellent students do have academic weaknesses; they have only learnt to hide or avoid tasks that will reveal them.

(d)   The real definition of success is not the absence of failure but the ability to proceed even stronger in the midst of failure.

(e)    Leadership sometimes could be a natural gift; if it is to you, then you’d be able to combine other important things with it.

(f)    If you have no plan or unquenchable desire/drive for excellence, then you’d have no justification to question what life gives to you.

(g)   If your failures or poor performances do not worry you, then you’d never develop the strength to break through academically.

(h)   People fear excellence not because they do not know what to do to get it but because they are afraid of what it would cost them to sustain it.

(i)     You don’t need to be a genius to be excellent; you only need to believe in yourself that you are excellent and you will be; in essence, geniuses are made and not born.

(j)     Prayer is great because it provides you with spiritual assurances and eliminates every form of misfortune coming your way; however, everyone must deeply understand that God will NOT do for a man, what a man can do for himself".

I believe that you have learned a lot from Macaulay, Babajide Milton; an epitome of what it implies to rise from Average to Excellence. No matter the odds against you, you have all it takes to soar from Average to Excellence, please make sure you do!

Let’s go a step higher. YES WE CAN.

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