I believe every Nigerian student back then or now will always say that their school is much better than the others. But in my own case, I never cared about those things because I just wanted to get the best from the school and move on with my life, even though as a fresher then, when others were snapping pictures and sending them to the groups and everyone, I still remained unbotherd.
Though we have beautiful structures, spacious and convenient classrooms, and a big studio drawing table for all architectural students. But the energy just looked very different for me. And I told myself that even though they said they are in better schools, the degree will end up on the same piece of paper regardless, and we will eventually be out there one day.
And one of the things I never expected, or let me say anticipated, was that the experience would teach me things a more comfortable institution like private schools might never have offered. During my second year, there was this general strike that lasted for some months. It was not a short one. Then type where of strike when we did not even know when the government would answer them after a lot of close doors meeting they had.
Because of that, a lot of students don't know where to be, as some went back to their states, family members places, and some even had to change schools to a private one. But I stayed back even though it got boring and lonely at some point, and I continued with some of the things I was doing without rushing it. I covered for the semester. I had to finish my semester projects because, as an architectural student, we always do projects every semester, which costs money. I learned how to use my time when no pressure was forcing me to.
Because the school was broken in a way, it had to create a specific kind of people, because they say that our environment shapes us sometimes. But this time, not romantically, but in the surviving adversity character way. In a real way. Because it is so early, we have gotten to know that the system has failed us, but we still have to eat.
That a lecturer shows up just a few days to exam and just drops his handout or calls a 7 AM class is a management problem we must personally struggle with by looking for solutions on how to cover up for the course ourselves. That waiting for institutions to keep up to their promises is a losing strategy. These are not lessons someone can learn in a well-funded environment where things actually work as scheduled.
To be genuinely sincere, if I could go back, would I go somewhere else? I am not entirely sure. Because most of the things I do or know today, how I think, survive, self reliance, structure, culture, and all, that education did not come from any lecture room. It all came from watching a system that was not built for me and deciding to build something different for myself in it anyway. I didn't sit to write any exam for that because it's what I do on a regular basis which has been following me since.
Thank you for reading.
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