JOURNEY TO THE B.Sc

The Beginning.

As a child growing up in a very disciplined home with wonderful parents who feel education is the root of  all success, they always started off with a native song; (… BTW my Igbo is pathetic and NO am not proud of it).

Akwukwo na tu to   --- Education is interesting

Mo na rah u na mu ta --- Even though it is really difficult to learn

Onye were kasiobi ---- You just have to be patient

O ga mu ta akwu kwo --- You’ll learn in due time

Mo buru na nne ya nna nay a we re ego (2x) --- That’s if your parents have the money

This song, was literally the *ginger* song for success and to climb mount Everest in education in my family. Thankfully for my parents, there was money for education and failure was NOT an excuse.

In September of 2007, I had graduated from secondary school with an above average result from both my WAEC and NECO, all thanks to the after school lessons and torturous teachers provided by my father (all out of love). My secondary school teachers at Bellina were immensely proud and I was feeling really good about myself, I could study anything in the Arts and would come out tops at the moment. The world was literally my oyster… but there was one problem - I didn’t know what to study.

I knew what I wanted to be, but I didn’t know what I wanted to study because what I wanted to be wasn’t in the field of study. I wanted to be an “Entertainer Extraordinaire”  (I know how cheesy this might sound) but that was what I wanted to be. I wanted to be in all of the corners of entertainment; in writing, radio, television, singing, drama you name it. I wanted to be extraordinary in bringing entertainment to the lives of people. Being an Entertainer Extraordinaire was not something to be studied, it is who I am and I just needed something to grow me in the field.

I come from a professional family, everyone studied professional courses and worked in professional organizations, I just seemed to be the odd one out. When they talked about stocks, shares , politics, law and economy all I was interested in was entertainment ( I was the funny one in the family). So coming out to say “… Hey Mum and Dad I want to be an Entertainer Extraordinaire was like a minister’s daughter saying she wants to be a stripper and work the pole”… I was out of my element on this one.

When I met my elder brother to ask what I should study in the university, he said law immediately without any hesitation. According to him I was good in writing, intellectual, factual and good in speech. I was always giving speeches right from my primary school, through to my secondary, so therefore LAW was it for me. Even though I had no particular interest whatsoever for Law, it seemed to be a prestigious and a very commanding occupation and I didn’t mind that.

Law suited me well and my family embraced it with open arms. The closest choice of course was Mass Communication but it wasn’t professional enough and I didn’t want to look “too dull” to study something less serious/ professional. That’s what people studied *professional* courses to better themselves in the future. After Jamb, next stop was the Prestigious Madonna University Okija where I was going to be jailed for next 5years studying Law. I had heard about the school and all the imperfections that came with it, my Dad loved it and my siblings where finally relieved that that chapter of their lives was officially over!

At this moment I didn’t have a choice, Madonna was my portion and forcing would be adding wasted years. So I looked at that blue and white painting (the most hideous choice of color ever used on a platform) and as I matched in, I looked to the heavens and knew I was walking into my doom but I knew even more that my God will see me through… 

to be continued