Ruth Idi Okpoto, Now Mrs. Rith Omopariola-Bolarinwa is a deaf lady and she’s University of Ilorin’s Best Graduating student from the Faculty of Education in 2009.

Ruth has cried out for help after searching for a good and well paying job six years after she graduated from school.

In an email she sent to Education Review & obtained by The Sun, Ruth who is now a married mother of one, narrated her fruitless efforts in searching for a well paying job.

She shared on how tribalism, nepotism and her deafness have militated against her getting a job that will tally with her educational qualification.

She says she currently works at a school in Ogun state where she coordinates the PTA group. She called on her alma mata, Exxon Mobil and others to help her with a job.

Excerpts of the email below:

“To set the record straight I am not a deaf-mute. Not all deaf people are dummies. I am a bilingual deaf person with a mild hearing loss. I became deaf in 1997 at the age of 15 while in SS 1 at Dairy Farm Secondary School, Lagos.

I have already acquired language proficiency before the sickness that caused my hearing loss started then. After the illness, I discovered I couldn’t hear very well whenever people talk to me unless I read their lips. Despite this hearing difficulty, I continued my education at the school.

“At a point, I confided in the Vice Principal (Academic) Deaconess Afolabi but she didn’t believe me because according to her I could speak and hear her. She decided to check my academic records but was surprised to realize how brilliant I was as a deaf person. From there, she showed interest in me and adopted me.

She later introduced me to her husband – Pastor Toye Afolabi. They supported me to further my education at Kwara State College of Education, Oro, in 1999, after the completion of my SSCE. I lived and grew up under their loving care for more than 15 years till I got married in 2011.

“When I got admissions into University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), they encouraged and supported me. I did not even know sign language then but I excelled at the College where I studied Agriculture. I did my IT at the Lagos State Agriculture Development Authority without the help of any interpreter. I have a good rapport with people.

Some people think I am pretending to be deaf whenever I tell them about it because of the way I relate with them. I didn’t attend any special school but I learnt the skill of sign language while teaching at Christian Mission School for the Deaf at Ibadan in 2003.

“I am physically, mentally, emotionally and morally sound, and very assertive. I love interacting with people but I don’t like to be taken for granted. Intellectually, I like reading and researching. I also love playing football. Mind you, I am still playing football even now as a nursing mother.

My friend used to call me Tomboy in those days because I like doing what boys do. I love tasks that challenge my intellect. My husband and I have similar condition.

He is deaf but he can speak English fluently. We are both qualified graduates from University of Ilorin. He is, at present, working with Ogun State Teachers Service Commission.

“I scored a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.45. That was the score I saw on the result sheet in the first semester of my final year. After the completion of my study I graduated with a second class honour (Upper Division).

“On the efforts made so far to get a good job, I had wanted to work with the University of Ilorin. There is a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, I was so fond of her even till today.

Leaving her was, indeed, a difficult challenge for me. The affection I have for her made my desire to work in the university stronger and that was what motivated me to do my NYSC in the institution. The lecturer is now a professor. I was then lucky to serve at the newly established Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS) headed by her (Prof. Olasehinde Williams). Before the completion of my NYSC, I wrote a letter requesting to be retained but got no response then.

“After the completion of my one mandatory youth service, I continued to apply for job whenever the university released vacancies. I think I have done so thrice. The former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, was making attempt to employ me based on my application which was submitted to him in 2012/2013.

I later learnt that he was about to do that before his tenure expired. I wrote a letter explaining the situation to the new Vice Chancellor (Prof. Ambali) in 2013 and, in fact, re-applied last year but the vacancy was put on hold.

“Another opportunity came when ex-President Goodluck Jonathan gave disabled people employment opportunity in 2013. I joined others to apply and traveled with my husband to Abuja for the interview in November. My daughter was just seven months old when I embarked on the journey with her.