To gain admission into the university was what most young people craved for during our days. I hope that the vibe has not changed in recent times. The emergency of a new school of thought called Yahoo Boys or in some parlance, Benefit Boys has turned the tide of academic hungry fellows to you people who love money than pursuing a career.
The anxiety that you just gained admission to study a course of your choice or one that you are mandated to study due to certain reasons. You'd see that your life is just starting a new phase. A phase where you would have to grow up and make your personality count.
In the process of registering as a student at the admissions office and the long queue under the sun where all freshmen meet for the very first time leaves a lot of memory in the archives.
My first friend was an Igbo guy with the Igboitic accent. Chris was his name. He made everyone laugh with the way he spoke mixing English with his local dialect.
One thing that made Chris stand out was the way he was hospitable. He could spend his last penny in the cafeteria. As the son of an Igbo business man in Onitcha, Chris has no problem with money. That was not the basis for which we became friends though.
I am Igbo guy too but grew up in Lagos while Chris was a typical village champion who had everything except the exposure.
We got an accommodation in the same hostel. Oduduwa hall was where the university loosed-mouth lived. Those boys can do several things. Whenever power goes off, you'd hear someone meowing like a cat, another could crow like a cock and some other bleat like and sheep. It was fun to be at Oduduwa hall but we had problems with getting a girlfriend. When a last hears that you reside at Oduduwa, forget it, she is not interested.
Our first few weeks at the university was like we were on a tour. After lectures, we would go to the motion ground, where most freshers assemble to take a shot from the camera of teeming cameramen. Some stale students also do come around. For the male stale students, one of their intention is to search for beautiful fresh female students. The signs are always written all over their faces.
Then, we would go to eat at the cafeteria before heading to the sport complex to watch the Vice Chancellor's Inter-Faculty Handball Tournament. There was also lawn tennis but the most popular was football. I once played football for my department as a substitute and that singular match earned me my first university girlfriend.
It all started when I heard someone chanting my name.
Andre! Andre!! Andre!!!
We won the match and I scored the only goal just a few minutes when I came in. It was like I was Ronaldinho.
After the match, a beautiful lady studying Human Kinetics offered to help me with my kits. Who am I to reject the assistance? She followed me to the hostel and we came out ro love garden in the evening where we started a love journey with the longest kiss I ever had. I bet, she is the best I ever had.
So, after an eight months ASUU strike, upon which I refused to return to Lagos but followed my friend Chris to Onitsha. It was the best move I ever made in life. I was exposed to different business techniques, most which cannot be studied at the university.
After the eight months we came back to school, had lectures for just two weeks and entered into examination. Before we knew it, the first semester had ended.
When we resumed back at second semester, Chris had been flown to United Kingdom where he was to study. I was left in a bleak world and my experience of social.life began to deteriorate. Chris had been my major financial support and now that he has left, a vacuum was created that can not be filled.
I however continued to live without Chris. My girlfriend was in support too. Lagos was far from Ile-Ife and going home was quite a treat for me because I know when I travel home, there is the possibility that I would get money back to school. Man must live, however.
The second semester approached so quickly. Before one could say Jack, the examinations had started. That was one of the most difficult times I had in school.
I had no food to eat except for Garry and a fee cups of beans. I had to device a method of multiplying the food. So, I will soak the garri and fo for exams, by the time I return, it would have swollen or raise. Then I will settle to eat.
This persisted for a while. Sometimes, it is good to share your problems with your neighbours because they could be of help to you. A day to our final second semester exams, I had garri but was tired of eating it soaked. Adjacent to my room, I perceived someone frying stew. It smells so good that it would be fine with make garri. I quickly boiled water and made eba with it.
I was determined not to eat soaked garri. So,I took one of my stainless steel plates and spoon and started announcing:
Who get soup? Plenty eba is available
It was like I had poured petrol in a burning fire. Most of the students had the same issue like me. There were some that needed soup because they had eba and some that need eba because they had only soup.
The verandah of our hostel filled within a short time of making that town crier effect.
I got soup to eat my eba after sharing my eba with a dude who needed eba but had only soup.
