As a teenager back then, I was in a fix, trying to choose a career. I remember that one of the things that trended for young people was to pursue and get admission to study at the University. But then, the university matriculation board was different from the Polytechnic and College of education matriculation board.
For the first time, I left home to live with my aunt who worked with the Nigerian Electric Power Authority. She lived in the heart of Lagos where I was enrolled in a JAMB centre to take lessons for both Uni-Jamb and Poly-Jamb. At first, it looked like the world was against me because I knew no one at the centre but with time, I started to make friends.
The friends I made at the centre were church boys and girls. We would join a nearby church for their evening services after our lessons. Most times, I got home around 7:00pm, one hour before my aunt. She lived alone in a three bedroom plush building. I studied hard because I didn't want to disappoint my struggling parents. My dad was a civil servant and my mom, a trader.
After the Uni-Jamb, I was offered admission to study history and diplomacy and the Lagos State Polytechnic offered me admission to study Insurance. I was in a dilemma, I didn't know what to settle with. I struggled hard with my intentions. During my youthful days, I thought I was going to study banking or accounting but here I am, history, a subject I took up in my final class.
I finally settled with history and diplomatic studies. I used to fear that I would have to write a lot of stories as a student of history but the course proved me wrong. Studying history was an exposure for me.
Studying history was like traveling to nations far away with my pen. Most of the lectures I sat for were recorded in my memory till this day. One thing I ensured to do was never to miss lectures. This is because I don't like to read for too long. I took short notes during lectures and revised them during exams.
The university I attended was far away from home. I go back home for my allowance every month. Back then, there were no ATM cards and only big boys on campus had cell phones. At some points, I stopped going home. I was making cool cash helping students who do not know how to surf the internet to write their assignment. I bet you, I made more money than what my parents would have given me if I had gone home.
It was at the University I started working to earn a living. I started a JAMB coaching centre that four years after my graduation, my centre was still running.
Life happened anyways. I left the university environment to pursue a master's degree in public administration at another university. A friend had promised to link me with the British consulate at Ikoyi, Lagos for an administrative position. This was how I returned to Lagos vis-a-vis taking my masters degree class which I completed two years later and the job never came through.
However, in the course of my job hunting, I settled with teaching on a meagre salary. Now, here is the gig. I was not about the salary. The school management allowed a colleague and I to organize a JAMB tutorial centre using the school centre. That has been our main source of income.
We would employ the services of some of our colleagues for the evening coaching. The reward was better than what the school offered but we got the facility for free as a compensation of our intention to be staff of the school.
Now, there are lots of achievements we have recorded over time. Too numerous to mention.
Life has shown me good, bad and ugly experiences and these experiences are like driving forces that push me towards the goals I have. The truth is that I am not where I want to be but I am not where I used to be.
