Why do people write books in here? Is it all necessary?

your qualification is a psycological affair, there are first class degree holders barely making a significant living, while primary school drop outs are pushing the nigerian economy - go to Alaba and find out for yourself.

forget this class and qualification talk and forge a future for yourself and generation. if you choose to make a difference in the web services business visit www.signonafrica.net/webmasters.html or u could find an area that trully interests you and leave your foot print there for generations to come!

President Obasanjo is a graduate of Yaba Tech, or is that not what I heared?

Trash your feelings and be FREE!

alibor:

your qualification is a psycological affair, there are first class degree holders barely making a significant living, while primary school drop outs are pushing the nigerian economy - go to Alaba and find out for yourself.

forget this class and qualification talk and forge a future for yourself and generation. if you choose to make a difference in the web services business visit www.signonafrica.net/webmasters.html or u could find an area that trully interests you and leave your foot print there for generations to come!

President Obasanjo is a graduate of Yaba Tech, or is that not what I heared?

Trash your feelings and be FREE!

yes, pushing the Nigerian economy, all right. and we'll remain a 3rd world country for ever.
A first class graduate of electrical engineering in most Nigerian universities will probably not be able to repair a CRT television set, and a dropout in Alaba may be able to. That's all well and good if you want Nigeria to remain a country that repairs other people's innovation.
A first class graduate, however, will, with little further study be able to create and innovate new brands of LCD TVs, make new inroads in consumer electronics. And that's what counts in national development.
This analogy is just to show you how people like you see only the small picture.
Nigeria has stated its intent to have a man in space by 2015. If no white men are to be used, who's gonna make this a reality? Is it the high quality graduates or the primary school dropout?

Keep thiking Nigeria's development revolves around Alaba and mechanic workshops. While countries like India and Israel export high quality technology, we'll keep on being athird world country.

On the subjet of Alaba, pray tell me what the Alaba boys have innovated or invented for Nigeria, apart from efficient ways to sell pirated movies.

when Japan wanted to develop, it sent many bright young japanese guys to foreign universities to obtain information and education. then they returned to help build their country. Let's lose this african mentality of immediate gain ASAP

texazzpete,

Haba! don't missunderstand me. i'm only encouraging those who ve been tied up with "employment" focus for measuring their life's worth or progress, to look beyound the obstacles of unemployment and pursue a rewarding career for themselves, whatever it takes - stooping low, climbing high or taking the challenge of seeking further knowledge/expertise. however, such decisions should be in such areas that we are passionate about as to want to live our lives for it. See Bill Gates? he dropped out, right? but that was a calculated risk, not a mare risk. you want to take a risk without a vision? u just committed suicide! See Osita Onuma? Nigeria's greatest academic export- he washed cars to pay his way through UNN. one thing is common to both osita and bill gate they believed enough in what they wanted to sacrifice for it- that is my position!

stop tying yourself to everybody's direction, stop evaluating yourself with materialism or general world views, seek your passion, develop ur own values, u will need to sacrifice now, but leave in a sign post at every cross-road u faced for those who follow behind!

[size=17pt]I agree that education plays a big part in ones life but it is not the only determinanat of riches and success:

According to one of my university professors when i was in the united states of america said that "it has been proven that expereince is better than education, reason being that even PHD's and proffessors learn from thier mistakes when their theories are proven wrong" this is the reason why anybody who has seriously contributed to the development of a field can be awarded an honorary PHD because they know the theories that work (are practicable) and those that dont.

This evidence is shown as to the reason why the richest and most successful people in the world and nigeria specifically had little or no education.

for example some of the richest and most successful people in nigeria today include: Generals Ibrahim babangida, Jerry useni, Alhaji aliko dangote (started from selling nail), Chief igbenadion (a former police seargent) Mr Samuel adedoyin (primary school drop out), alhaji mai deribe, arisekola alao (only speaks hausa and yoruba no english!) alhaji wahab folawiyo

most of these individuals have little or no education but yet have been given various national awards. in fact those that do have education ended up excelling in different areas from which they were trained. where are all the people who upon nigerias idependence were educated in harvard, oxford only few of them stand today such as Mr gamamiel onosode even he only lives and average lifestyle that cannot compare to the ones mentioned above.

in conclusion hardwork/dedication, ability to maximize opportunites, experience , religion, education, values and a host of various factors, are attributed to success and riches[

jimz:

[for example some of the richest and most successful people in nigeria today include: Generals Ibrahim babangida, Jerry useni, Alhaji aliko dangote (started from selling nail), Chief igbenadion (a former police seargent) Mr Samuel adedoyin (primary school drop out), alhaji mai deribe, arisekola alao (only speaks hausa and yoruba no english!) alhaji wahab folawiyo

I laugh at your puerile attempt to classify those rogues above as "rich" and "successful"!

Gen. Babangida - Can you please explain to us how a mere General was able to amass so much wealth, his salary? What happened to SAP, the middle class and our naira? Who enthroned nepotism and made corruption a national virtue? who "cancelled" our freest and fairest elections? By the way has he explained to you about the whereabouts of our $12.5bn gulf war oil windfall?

Jerry Useni - Among your "richest" and "successful"?

Aliko Dangote- How many people did Shagari's morally bankrupt regime enrich? Who ruined our budding rice industry via mass importation of rice? Who are those who squandered our foreign reserve and plungeed us into the debt that took us yrs of begging to finally clear?

alhaji mai deribe- Another northern illiterate whose only claim to "riches" and "success" is through fraudulent contracts?

Chief igbenadion- You wait until his son completely plunders the economy of Edo state!

Please do not emulate Elumelu,he might have gotten "AHEAD" with it, Whatever class you really belong is in your Head,you become great if you desire to be

the course or ur grade in sch do not matter.wut matters is de ability to learn and be informed.my mum made a 1st class 4rm unn and she isnt more sound lik my dad who mad a3rd class.achievment in life is not measured by de grade of cerf

This topic is long overdue. i guess we have gotn the main point from this!!

I think some of you guys need to go read through the biography of Bill gates conscientiously.That guy is called a "drop out" just because he didn't graduate from college after enrolling.But the chap was a math prodigy in high school.The guy's highly intelligent.He didn't drop out due to inability to excel academically.He took an indefinite leave to devote more time to the business he and his friend started then.
So please don't let we nairalanders sound uninformed by always saying Bill Gates is an academic drop out.There's a difference between someone who couldn't pass his exams and as result dropped out and someone who had a good business and intellectual foresight and decided to drop out.
Even the Google boys are considered Stanford drop-outs, but are they really drop-outs?Larry Page graduated from Michigan with high honours in Mathematic(an equivalent of a British 1st class).He enrolled for a Ph.d at Stanford but due to ideas he got from his Ph.d research project he decided to suspend the Ph.d program after bagging an M.sc so as to start off his business with ideas gotten from a 1st class brain and mindset!!!!(D**n).He's now in the Forbes and u know what that means.
Try and understand what people mean by the term "drop-outs" guys.

Ha ahhhhh, I love Nigerians. Certificates!!! That's wonderful
May God deliver us ,
Everyone should mind his/her own business.For your info. Gani and Tony Elumelu have arrived.
At least, what do they want to achieve in life? Master in their profession: SAN at LAW AND Group MD of a Mega bank.
just believe in yourself that you can do it.
shi kena

i am glad a lot of us nairalanders can still talk intellectually like rotbog,Gnature,amiphat,
keep up the good talk and hold on to your heads.
wonder what tony elumelu will think of all these were he to read them.

For the information of forum members who have been asking, Tony Elumelu did NOT graduate from the University of Benin (UNIBEN), as was stated. In addition, he did NOT graduate from the undergraduate with a Third Class degree.

Tony Elumelu graduated from the then Bendel State University, Ekpoma (now Ambrose Alli University) with a Second Class Honours degree in Economics. He also had an M.Sc degree in Economics from the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

While exceling at what we do, including education (1st class), is desirable, I believe that education is not an end in itself. I wish to refer to three commencement speeches to butress this point.

Ruldolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, once said in his commencement address at Middlebury College, Vermont on May 22, 2005 that "the purpose of education is to make you a participating member of the city-state. It's to have you discover what ultimately brings you happiness, which is your ability to contribute to other people. Whether we want to be or we're not, we're social by nature. Human beings are. And we find our fulfilment when we find our place, and it's not being alone."

British Robinson, in her commencement speech to the 2006 graduating class of Fairfield University, Connecticut on May 21, 2006 said that "Education is not primarily about what you draw from books, but what you draw from yourself", expressing the hope that the graduating students had learnt this during their sojourn at the university.

In yet another commencement speech by Richard Karp to graduates of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of California at Berkeley on May 21, 2006, he said "The real test of your education is not your GPA, but whether you will be able to apply the principles that you have learned to problems that you have never seen and situations that none of us can even imagine."

Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Gani Fawehinmi and Tony Elumelu, regardless of their educational attainment, are all testaments to the truths conveyed by the referenced commencement speeches.


Edfrich

quote author=ndo link=topic=21322.msg631656#msg631656 date=1159459201]
the course or your grade in sch do not matter.what matters is de ability to learn and be informed.my mum made a 1st class from unn and she isnt more sound lik my dad who mad a3rd class.achievment in life is not measured by de grade of cerf
[quote][/quote]
i have taken time to go through almost all the postings here.well, while it is important to graduate well from university,its not by all means an objective appraisal of ones ability to deliver on the job.i graduated with a third class in my first degree and today,i am head of marketing of a HMO, however,i can honestly say that i had a third class because i then didnt priotize my studies very highly and i am where i am today because i have taken everything i have done since then very very seriuosly.its not a matter of how badly you fall,its a matter of how well u can rise when u have fallen.
so if tony elumelu had a third class,then it shows there is no genuine excuse for failure.if you have to sweat the harder for success then by all means do![

Ynot
Thanks alot, i surport your view you have said it all.everything depends on our ability however where do we place the hope of graduates with a pass.

Thought this thread died a long time ago.

Babahimsef:

Ynot
Thanks alot, i surport your view you have said it all.everything depends on our ability however where do we place the hope of graduates with a pass.

If you are the one with 'pass' don't despair, start your own business, be your own boss. There are lots of things yet to be discovered. Maybe you are the one we've been waiting for to discover them. With hard work and luck, you might end up paying salaries to them 1^st class graduates.

I believe it's people with very poor results that will start a thread like this. Why bother about the grades of successful people? People's comparism of technicians in Alaba mkt to a university graduate who is worth his/her salt is rather stupid. No nation can survive with half baked graduates and bunches of illiterate!
If u think consoling yourself by refering to Gani and Elumelu because they had 3rd class will make u feel better, all well and good. Stand up and be counted, in present day Nigeria, it'll be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a 3rd grad to be given the opportunity to prove themselves.
If you guys talk about drop outs that made it, i wont refer to such examples. I'd rather refer to successful graduates that turned economies around, started world class business with their wonderful ideas and are making a nice living for themselves.

i think its important to state the fact that ur grades dont have to limit ur potentials. i know extremely intelligent people who barely passed out of college or university. However, i think its dangerous to take the route of since 'so -and so' had poor grades and hes suceesful, then its ok if i make poor grades. ur grades actually speak volumes about ur abilities. but if u had poor grades in school (like i did) it doesnt have to limit u. (if ure really intellectually challenged, then work on urself)

It is rather shameful and retrogressing ,that what actually bother Nigerians is base discoursions and lame talks, and that is the bane of our development today.
It is only in Nigeria that results and paper certificates matter more than competence, ingenuity and innovative ideas and ideals.
This is the reason why the best hardly get the best of opportunity to give out qualitative service in Nigeria. Is it the class you obtained legitimately or the one you cheated to acquire? Is it the class that determines ones ability to appraise situations? Is it Nigerian kind of class and education system? Why do we imagine vain things and discuss idle issues. Does it really matter? ODOZI Mbanefoh is of the University of Wales Swansea.

gosh, what an interesting topic. Well i really dont believe that first class or 3rd class can describe ones intellect especially in the Nigerian educational system. Being intelligent and being smart have different meanings. Being intelligent doesnt gurantee your success in life. But then being smart would be a better bet.

That does not mean you can justify your 3rd class in school because a smart individual should be able to come out of school with average grades at least.

But the irony of life, i dont really know any rich first class individual. A good job probably and then thats it, they keep working for the money.

Our obsession with first class graduate is one the reasons why students make every crooked mean to cheat. The truly inteligent students find no motivation to excel. Everyone just 'study to pass exam and make first class' their target is bank jobs, oil and gas. Very few of them if any want to be retained in the university.

The few that had the ability and capacity to excel are mostly cheated by the system. We need a rethink. Obj had ruled this country more than any other man, regardless of what we think, he is not even a graduate talkless of being first class. Most of the outstanding scientists world over, are not first class graduates. The system that produced the like of Edison, Einstein etc does not placed undue emphasis on first or second class.

Nigeria may never truly developed into industrialized nation until we stop looking at the paper but rather focus on the ability of our youths to rise up against odds and exceel

olanajim:

Obj had ruled this country more than any other man, regardless of what we think, he is not even a graduate talkless of being first class.

Hmmm , this is another topic for tomorrow, but the thread started with a basic question "Did Elumelu make 3rd class?"
As much as we all appreciate the substance of intellectual discuss going side line with the topic, I suggest that we conclude with an answer to the main topic.

As for me, I wish I knew what year he graduated, I could pull out the facts from his class mates.

It is not really necessary, but to put the records right, he had a 2.2 from Ekpoma and a masters in Unilag in 1988. He is a distant relation of mine and am so proud of him even if I don't get to see him. I live and school in the Uk at the moment. But I have said it where it mattered that Nigerians have a strong penchant for gossips and not minding their business, even when it ruins their lives. They engage in base issues at the expence of more life changing affairs. This is the reason their leaders do not take them seriously because they know serious issues do not engage the mind of an average Nigerian. Gossips and cheap talks because we are generally cheap people, who trive in base and insignificant discussions while the leaders loot the wealth of ALL. We do not bother about our future but what is in the pot of soup of the next man. Nigerians wake up from stupidity. Odozi

@ Odozi

Thanks for coming to the rescue of Elumelu, most people like you said thrive on gossip, forgetting the substance of the real person.It's clear that he came out with 2.2 and a masters degree, but the substance is that he did not just earn "paper degree" he made use of it in his dealings, that's what we all should be doing. I would like to be related to such a man or woman, some how, I envy you.


This really caught my attention:

mathways:

I think some of you guys need to go read through the biography of Bill gates conscientiously.That guy is called a "drop out" just because he didn't graduate from college after enrolling.But the chap was a math prodigy in high school.The guy's highly intelligent.He didn't drop out due to inability to excel academically.He took an indefinite leave to devote more time to the business he and his friend started then.
So please don't let we Nairaland users sound uninformed by always saying Bill Gates is an academic drop out.There's a difference between someone who couldn't pass his exams and as result dropped out and someone who had a good business and intellectual foresight and decided to drop out.
Even the Google boys are considered Stanford drop-outs, but are they really drop-outs?Larry Page graduated from Michigan with high honours in Mathematic(an equivalent of a British 1st class).He enrolled for a Ph.d at Stanford but due to ideas he got from his Ph.d research project he decided to suspend the Ph.d program after bagging an M.sc so as to start off his business with ideas gotten from a 1st class brain and mindset!!!!(D**n).He's now in the Forbes and u know what that means.
Try and understand what people mean by the term "drop-outs" guys.

,

i read the story with keen interest. But know this that we all come by opportunity in our lives at one time or the other. Tony made good use of his. how are u using yours. I stumbled on one advert and i think i should let you know. If you are a voice over artiste, go to any branch of Mophet Pharmacy, Upper crust in bode thomas, Victory drugs in festac or Buklat pharmacy in babs animashaun to pick up a form for audition. It is surely a life changing opportunity for somebody.

well in as much as he has a 3rd class, he is still the ceo,so to me i dont think it matters

I'm not a supporter of mediocrity, it is always good to graduate with the best grade possible, but experience has shown that most 3rd class graduates are not dullards, have one in my office, the guy is just too good, so good that when any advert is being placed class of degree is no longer specified. He just came back from a training where he passed with 98% making him the best participant, even with so many 1st class, & 2.1s

Well well well,what do u know!!! i sure hope that this Tony Elumelu's gist is true just for one reason,and one alone:
to serve as an encouragement for all 3rd class holders(those with a pass too) that your degree can never ever ever stop you from attaining greatness!!!!

Amen to that! Bill Gates was a drop out too! Look where he is now. Academia is not by force. Find your calling and make the best out of it.

The reason children should never be forced to stay in school after doing all the encouraging and nagging. Everyone has a gift and time should be spent exploring that gift--as long as it can put food on the table.

i appreciate all comments but honestly if it is true i think they should hamper down on making emphasis of what class they require to hire especially with the baks or even in general. i believ there are some people that finished with lower grades that are much better than people with acclaimed higher grades, in nigeria most people pay thier way through so there is no measure of honesty , thats y i like advanced countries -we're heading ther i guess-, they dont make it so much of an issue if at all they do on grades , because relly its not encouraging especially in naija, if you were rejected and peradventure you are hired internationally with your low grade whenyou return you matter where is this really leading us too, it matters oh
lets not say it doesnt matter what u turn out this in naija if they were to consider it doesnt matter i know alot of intelligent individuals who are still job hunting cos it matters to have a 2nd class upwards and no godfather to assist where do we stand in all honesty?

so much to say, as i went through most of the write ups someone mentioned that if tony went thru school in this era he would have come out with a first class- what guarantee do you have i agree that the standard of education is falling, nevertheless we still have some great minds wasting , and not so to say going individual is not so easy too- as an enterpreneur-
there are equally people i know that finished from forieng universities who come back home and dont quite fit in what then , well guess weve heard nuf on this matter lets pray for the best in naija and keep praying for God to bless our efforts for those working, enterpreneurs, and the likes and please dont say its because people were not reading when they turned out with low grades where i finished from most of the married women and rich ones paid thier way to get good grades. best wishes to all you out there and keep the site bubbling, great contributions