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LAGOS—best graduating student at the faculty of Engineering, Lagos State University, in the 2017/18 academic year, Ola-Gbadamosi Ridwan Oladotun, yesterday, told a courageous story of how he had to do menial jobs to educate himself. Oladotun, at the 23rd convocation ceremony of LASU in Ojo campus, held the audience spell bound with his story of breeding chickens before attending classes just to gather enough money for books and school fees. The 22-year old Mechanical Engineering graduate, who made a cumulative grade point average, CGPA of 4.88 to emerge overall best graduating student, said in his valedictory speech that he was determined to succeed and therefore did not mind what he had to go through. Oladotun, who disclosed that he lost his mother at age 12, expressed happiness that his achievement has wiped off all his hardship in school. His words: “Precisely, I attended Federal Government College, Ijanikin in Lagos where I finished as the best graduating student in 2013. My fl...

For the first time in years , the Department of English at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife , Osun State produced first - class graduates, and the duo of Kehinde Lawal and a colleague achieved the feat . Interestingly, they both graduated with 4 .56 CGPA. In this interview with TUNDE AJAJA , 23 - year - old Lawal speaks on this great feat and other things of interest about her days in school We learnt your department has not produced any first - class graduate in years, did you set out to break that record when you got into the department or it happened by providence? The negative comments that spread all over OAU about the Department of English was enough to discourage anybody that planned to achieve that feat. From senior colleagues in the department to other places , the submission was the same . You hear comments like: ‘ Don’ t stress yourself reading too much , you won ’ t graduate with a first - class degree’ . It was so strong that when I got into the department , I became ...

A Nigerian - born teenager , Tobechukwu Phillips has shattered the 125 academic history of her high school in Texas , US . Phillips , a student of Alvin High School boasted a 6 . 9 GPA , after she earned A’ s throughout her stay in the school . She emerged the first Black valedictorian in the school ’ s history . Alvin High School was originally established in 1894 . African- American students were allowed to join the school in 1965. Speaking to Because of Them We Can, Phillips said , “ Maintaining the highest GPA in my class is a difficult task . It truly takes time management but more importantly acknowledging what you do it for. I know that I am no longer just representing myself . ”       Phillips had a word of advice for other students . She said , “ My biggest advice to other scholars of colour is to truly adopt the mindset of Rosa Parks — ‘ No . ’ Do not conform to the stereotypes that have held us under thumbs for so long , ” she explained. “ Do not be discour...

The rigours and challenges notwithstanding, acquiring a University education has become a standard dream of sorts to be pursued by all means in today’s society. For the few fortunate ones who manage to scale through the various competitive examinations and screenings to eventually become admitted, staying on course and graduating with reasonable grades can be a rough ride; but some even fewer sub-set of humans in the University education system do graduate with the ultimate reward: First Class degrees! Then there are those really rare species of humans that seem to be born only once in a century or thereabouts, and we call them “geniuses”. The Department of Computer Science happens to have recently produced one of them in the person of Mr. Nuhu Ibrahim (an indigene of Kaduna State, Nigeria) who bagged a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with a final CGPA of 4.94 out of 5.00 – the highest ever recorded in the history of ABU since its establishment in 1962. For about two w...

A brilliant Nigerian man, Kenneth Ononeze Okwor has achieved great academic excellence in a distant land after graduating in style from Harvard University. Kenneth who hails from Nsukka area of Enugu state obtained a Masters Degree (LLM) Harvard Law School as he graduated with his colleagues today in America. The young man who graduated from the University of Jos, bagged a First class degree from the Nigerian Law School. He also made distinctions in Commercial Law, International Law and the Law of Evidence at University of Jos. Kenneth Okwor became a lecturer of Corporate Law and Practice at 24 at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus. He made history at the Nigerian Law School after he was named the winner of ten prestigious awards.

A 22 year old Nigerian, the best graduating student at John Hopkins University in the U.S Emmanuel Ohuabunwa, a native of Arochukwu, Abia State has made Nigeria proud by making the history in becoming the first black man to make a GPA of 3.98 on a 4 point scale. Ohuabunwa graduated from Neuroscience with the highest honor. With a academic result so excellent, Emmanuel received a scholarship for Yale University in the United States with admission to study Medicine. Emmanuel who was born in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the United States with his parents at the age of thirteen stated he saw his parents as his role model. He stated he takes his education very seriously right from the get go. “I knew I wanted to go to the best school in the US. I had heard that Johns Hopkins Hospital had been ranked the number one hospital in the US for the past 21 years and I wanted to be in that environment.’’ He decided that working hard is one way he can achieve this dream especially realizing that hi...

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence. On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into that fence. The boy gradually began to control his temper over the next few weeks, and the number of nails he was hammering into the fence slowly decreased. He discovered it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails into the fence. Finally, the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father the news and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out a nail every day he kept his temper under control. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. “you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave...

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Until it suddenly stopped making any progress and looked like it was stuck. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, although it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man didn’t think anything of it and sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge to support the butterfly. But that didn’t happen. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, crawling around with tiny wings and a swollen body. Despite the kind heart of the man , he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening; were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. To prepare itself for flying once it...

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. He then hid himself and watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many people loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them did anything about getting the stone out of the way. A peasant then came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to push the stone out of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant went back to pick up his vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King explaining that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. Moral of the story: Every obstacle we come across in life gives us an opportunity to improve our circumstances , and whilst the l...

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to a baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting the right amount, which he wasn’t. Angry about this, he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure to weight the butter. The farmer replied, “Honor, I am primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.” The judge asked, “Then how do you weigh the butter?” The farmer replied; “Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker.” Moral of the story: In life, you get what you give. Don’t try and cheat others.

As a group of frogs was traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs crowded around the pit and saw how deep it was, they told the two frogs that there was no hope left for them. However, the two frogs decided to ignore what the others were saying and they proceeded to try and jump out of the pit . Despite their efforts, the group of frogs at the top of the pit were still saying that they should just give up. That they would never make it out. Eventually, one of the frogs took heed to what the others were saying and he gave up, falling down to his death. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?” The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time. Moral of the story: People’s words can have a big effect on ...

A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains. All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs. As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all. Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape. The trainer replied; “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the cam...

Les Brown is one of the world's foremost motivational speakers and thought leaders on self-improvement and goal-setting. However, it wasn't always that way for him. Born in Liberty City, Miami on the floor of an abandoned building, he has known struggle and hardship his entire life. Academically, Les was a struggling student from the get-go. The story goes that during his school days he was labelled "educable mentally handicapped" by the academic intelligentsia of his day and placed back from 6th grade to 5th grade. To make matters worse, he had a twin brother who was exceptionally bright and gifted, and as such Les became commonly referred to by his peers as the "DT"—the "dumb twin." One day a teacher asked him to come up and solve a problem on the chalkboard, but Les refused and said that he couldn't. "Of course you can," the teacher responded encouragingly. "Young man, come up here and solve this problem for me." ...

Before Maya Angelou became the powerful poet and civil rights activist the world remembers her as, she suffered a life of torment and darkness that nearly stole her voice forever. At a very young age she was forced to endure intense physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a family member. As a result, she became mute for nearly five years. It all changed one day with the help of a family friend, a teacher named Bertha Flowers. Angelou credited Mrs. Flowers for helping her find her own voice again. Through Flowers, she was introduced to African-American female artists like Frances Harper , Anne Spencer , and Jessie Fauset . In addition, Mrs. Flowers introduced Angelou to Dickens, Shakespeare, Poe, and several other prolific writers who would come to greatly influence her personal and professional philosophies. Source: www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/4-stories-great-teachers

When Bill Gates attended Seattle’s View Ridge Elementary, he was a typical nerdy 4th-grade introvert who always did his best to keep to himself. Thanks to a kindly librarian named Blanche Caffiere, he was able to come into his own in a way that would one day change the world forever. Gates sets the stage for this tale on his blog : "When I first met Mrs. Caffiere, she was the elegant and engaging school librarian at Seattle’s View Ridge Elementary, and I was a timid fourth grader. I was desperately trying to go unnoticed, because I had some big deficits, like atrocious handwriting ... and I was trying to hide the fact that I liked to read—something that was cool for girls but not for boys ... Mrs. Caffiere took me under her wing and helped make it okay for me to be a messy, nerdy boy who was reading lots of books." He credits Mrs. Caffiere for helping him escape his shell in the true spirit of exceptional teaching. First, she encouraged Gates' passion for reading by hel...

Meet the two Lagos State University best graduating students . Ridwan Ola-Gbadamosi from the Faculty of Engineeering and Karen Nneka Enumah from the Department of Mathematics, the two Best Graduating Students for the 23rd Convocation. They both finished with a CGPA of 4.88 Source https://www.myuniben.com.ng/2019/05/meet-two-lasu-best-graduating-students.html

This is Gazali Tanimu: 1. First Class Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria 2012. 2. Distinction and Overall best Student in M.Sc Program, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. 3. Best Graduating Ph.D Student, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia, 2018/2019 Academic Session. He's 27.He hails from Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria. Congratulations Source: http://www.trezzyhelm.com/2019/05/nigerian-man-gazali-tanimu-emerges-best.html

Apply for Federal Government Grant Application -Entrepreneurs, Student, NYSC https://federalgrant.org.ng/application /

Temitope John , 22, graduated from the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering , Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State in the 2013/ 2014 academic session with a first class , having scored 4 . 53 CGPA . She tells TUNDE AJAJA about her days in school How easy was it to graduate with a first class? I believe we all can do anything we set our heart on. The difference between people who actually achieved what they wanted to is that they continued at that thing , even in the face of challenges . Like many other students , I wanted to graduate with a first class but beyond the wish, I worked towards it . Interestingly, I didn’ t start with a first class in my 100 L. My first Grade Point Average was 3 . 86 /5 . 00. I was marvelled because I knew the amount of work I put into that semester . But I didn ’ t give up . If I were to consider the efforts I invested and what I got , I could have been discouraged , but I had a goal that I was committed to . The next semester , I learnt ...

Henry Emmanuel from the Department of Zoology and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biological sciences emerged overall best graduating student at the 32nd convocation of the University of Calabar on Saturday 13/04/2019 with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.72. Read what he said " In 2012, I had my second attempt at securing admission in the University of Calabar rejected. I was dejected, demoralised, i was considered a failure by many. Yet, I never gave up those dreams. I saw failure as a lesson, hardwork and resilience, a prerequisite for success. Today, I emerged OVERALL BEST GRADUATING STUDENT at the 32nd convocation of the prestigious University of Calabar, winning multiple awards including the TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION AWARD FOR BEST GRADUATING STUDENT.

Ochuwa Momoh George, a mother of four who recently completed her Ph.D from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) became an internet sensation few days after accounting her journey which was crowned with a CGPA of 5.0.    She wrote: “Finally, Ph.D done….I am so glad to announce that I have successfully completed my Ph.D in Environmental Toxicology and Pollution Management with a cgpa of 5.0/5.0! This journey has indeed been challenging…. amidst the ASUU strike extending this program for almost 2 sessions, the turbulent waters at one of my study locations in the Lagos lagoon that almost submerged the speed boat during one of my field trips, a full time job and 4 active sons….. Sometimes I wondered how I managed to scale through.

Just as a sick man in his dying bed has a heavy heart laden with lots of grief and regrets of things unaccomplished, I sat there in the fields that warm evening starring at the faculty building with mixed feelings of achievement and regrets. I had lived the life of a perfect student. I had great passion for studying and some sort of insatiable desire for knowledge. I excelled in every of my examinations and this feat spurred up the feeling of invincibility in my subconscious mind. I wasn’t a popular fellow but I believe that mentioning my name portrayed the picture of a focused student with outstanding academic abilities in the mind of the few that knew me. Those few years, I always pictured a beautiful future with me in it doing great things. However, I began to realize the big gap between me and the rest of the world. The wall I built between me and my friends as a freshman. Gradually, I knew names of authors and textbooks and yet hardly remembered the names of friends. It dawned...