₦airaland Forum

jchime:
the south east can be reduced to two states

ARE'NT YOU TIRED OF BEEN TRIBALISTIC, WHY SHOULD YOU WANT SOUTH EAST TO BE REDUCED SO THAT WE WONT HAVE ENOUGH REPRESENTATIVES IN NASS TO COMBAT WHAT THYE NORTHERNERS DO THERE, MAY GOD MAKE YOU STATELESS

ucation    Thursday, February 23, 2012

By Laju Arenyeka

It is fast becoming a cliche that some people are just born geniuses. The young man who holds the record of best graduating student in Nigeria doesn't quite fall into that class. With a CGPA of 4.99 under his belt, 20 year old Victor Ubong used to fail woefully as a child. In an exclusive interview with Vanguard Learning, He talks about the nuggets that make up his success story.

Have you always been at the top of your class?

Not until I got to Covenant University. Growing up, I was practically a struggle. I lost my mother, who had always been my motivation when I was in JSS3. In my junior secondary days, I used to be one of the last in class. Sometimes, out of 50 people in a class, I would come 43rd. But when I entered SS1, I was the best in accounts, though I was an average student in subjects like Biology and English.

What brought about the difference from olodo to genius?

I think it was because I started specializing. I began doing well in accounts alone as I had always had an interest in accounting because my father is an accountant. The whole transformation really began in SS2 when I met Jesus as my personal Saviour. That was when I knew that I could be the best.

At that time though, there was this boy that challenged me. He was the best in commercial class and because of him, I started reading seriously. By SS2, I became the best in commercial class. After then, I started improving, and never looked back.

What inspired your having 5.0 GPAs almost every semester?

When I first came into Covenant University, I never knew what a 5.0 was. But one shocking thing I did was before I resumed 100 level in September 2007, I told my father to disown me if I didn't graduate with a first class. In fact, I wrote it down and gave it to him.

I did that because I was surprised that he could pay my school fees, and I wanted to show him my appreciation and also challenge myself. I wrote "Dad, thank you for paying my fees, I promise that I come out of Covenant University with a first class, and if I don't, disown me". Then he collected the paper and put it in a file, which is still in our house.

When I went to Covenant, and I heard of someone I now call my mentor, Toju Arenyeka, who had a 5.0 in the first and second semester of her 100, I was inspired. The result was still on the board, I saw it myself. That was when I realized that it was actually possible. I still had my first class in mind, but I just aimed for a five point like every other person. But what I will say is God did it.

What extra efforts did you put in place?

In my first semester in school, I was reading for sixteen hours every day. There wasn't really time for friends so I had just one friend, Mayowa. When the results came out, we both had 5.0 GPAs and he wasn't reading as much as I was. He would read for three hours a day and still got the same result. So I was challenged.

In the second semester, I read with Mayowa and another friend for about three hours a day, and that was when I put the idea of synergy into play. When the results came out, the three of us had 5.0 GPAs. From then on, we preferred the idea of reading together to our long hours of reading alone.

Now, I read for about three hours every day. When I was preparing for the first diet of my professional exams last year, I read for a minimum of six hours every day. For this second diet, I'm planning to read for about twelve hours or more every day. Since I don't have my friends with me now, I have to study more.

What do you think about the fact that a lot of first class graduates are still job hunting?

I think that once you have the quality, the job will surely come. I think that if anyone tries to get a job and doesn't, such a person should develop themselves more and the job will surely come. Just keep on developing yourself, go for professional exams, seek to know more so that you can contest more favourably in the labour market.

What is your take on the belief that anyone who goes to a private school should graduate with a first class or at least a second class upper because of the high cost of fees in private universities?

I don't know about other private schools, but at Covenant University, you work for everything you get. The environment is such that if you work hard for something, you will get it. No lecturer can decide that nobody will get more than a B. The best graduating student in Nigeria before me, who had a 4.96 from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, went abroad for his masters and excelled more than everyone else in his school there. So Nigerians are smart, almost every first class graduate I know from Covenant and elsewhere have succeeded even outside the Nigerian university system.

Are you of the opinion that some people are born geniuses?

Of course, there are people who have been very smart from a young age, but there are also people who weren't very smart from the beginning but are doing very well now, and I am a testimony of that. There are many just like me and my advise to them is to identify their areas of weaknesses and work on them. For me, English as a course was a weakness, and I'm still studying it more.

Tell us about the course you had a B?

It was an accounting software course. Ironically, before the exams, I was the one teaching my course mates how to use the software, so I don't really know what went wrong. My system had a problem in the exam hall, but it came back on, and I finished. I was not expecting a B, even the lecturer was shocked that I had a B. I felt very sad, but I think it was meant to be. As a matter of fact, I wasn't expecting to get many of the A's I got. For my GST 111, the use of English, I was not expecting an A.

What's the most unusual thing you've ever done to pass an exam?

For GST 111 that I mentioned earlier, time was up, so I shaded B for numbers one to fifteen. I had exactly 70% in that course. Another unusual time was when I wrote a paper that I did not read for at all and still got above 80%.

Where do you see yourself seven years from now?

I should be 27 years old by then and I see myself as a partner in an accounting firm, as a doctorate degree holder, and very close to being a professor by then. I'd like to lecture, but only part time.

eiete:
What do you mean "UNIBEN, its medical program and products are not recognized by UK medical board".

Please give us fact not unsupported statements.

onomeasike:
it beats my imagination how, in the first place, you expect so much difference in how a well regulated professional course like pharmacy.In pharmacy,it is all about STANDARD,if a pharmacy school is not standard,it would have its acreditation withdrawn.However,the area that could come into consideration are,
1.What class of pharmacy degree?Is it Pharm D or B.Pharm.-if your choice is pharm D,choose Uniben[b],although the school is run from the oba of benins palace[/b] and currently,its medical program and products are recognised by uk medical board.

Tony Spike:
I think we need to examine these questions:

What really makes a state viable?
Is it in terms of population or mineral resources?
How do we know that a state will be viable or potentially be viable?
Is it in terms of the level of education of the people in the state?

The reason I ask this is because many people think of viability in terms of mineral resources. Human resources, for example, can make a state very viable.

While I do not support the further mushrooming of states, I believe what we should be pursuing now is to have super-structures. Super-structures like regions will reduce the ubiquitous political chain and wastage of resources. Imagine Nigeria having just 6 governors instead of 36 redundant governors? That means we are saving billions on the remuneration of 30 governors' salaries, 30 state houses of assembly, countless of vehicles and outrageous daily expenses of governance. This also means that the National assembly will be considerable reduced in number. Do we now know why these government thieves cannot support a SNC?

Tolexander:
no need of riskin d journey to ife, am an oau pharmacy student. It is not possible to carry over a course. All courses are required to be passed before leaving the class.

Yinkay:
One of the major reason is that Banks are not providing credt lines to Marketers because of uncertainty of the outcome of the Subsidy Probe. Some marketters may be sacrificed to show that FG is seriuos about corrupion and if such marketer is owing a bank, it will end a bad debt.

davidylan:
As long as you dont act that way to your employer then you def can control yourself.

GboyegaD:
If you read my response well, you would realise I spoke on only 2 schools that I have information on because I graduated from one and for the other, my uncle used to be the faculty officer as such I have visited the department many times. Till tomorrow, Ife does not allow you carry over a single pharmacy course. If you need confirmation, you can take the next available cab to Ife to confirm   .
Lastly, never be in a haste to generalise when you are not sure because it doesn't speak well of you. You just committed a fallacy of hasty generalisation (in philosophy) and fallacy of composition (in economics) by the bolded part of your response.

GboyegaD:
When did sleeping in class become a measure of a school's standard? Your choice to sleep in class is best known to you because not everyone who sleeps in class reads or assimilate all night at least my bunkmate in 200L is a perfect example.

Poster, your motive should guide you as to which school to attend. I know Ife's pharmacy is quite rigorous and sometimes, they tend to create fear in student however, if you are an average student you sure would do well though might not make a distinction.
As for UNIBEN, I do not know how tough it is but I know you are allowed to carry over a course from a level to another which does not happen in some pharmacy schools as you are expected to pass all the classes per level thus, no room for carry over.

It was gathered that the last time the hunters visited the town on similar expedition was about three years ago, and that they usually settled at a camp in Adani, although they are still under police custody.

koolguy88:
the incidence occurred along the mega station bypass by hotoro, i ws coming back frm morning mass, wanted to take the road to naibawa but it was barricaded by the security forces (army). at about 5am this morning gun shots were heard by residents in the area, exchange frm army and the boko haram members, some of them were caught, , their days are numbered.

Didi Love:
Very honest and unambigous advert.
All dealers should learn a thing or two from this advert.
Mods, shouldn't all adverts look similar to this?

HAPPY SALES BRO. I APPRECIATE YOUR HONESTY. MAY YOUR STARS NEVER DIM.

nosa2:
There are two conversations going on, one against corruption the other against subsidy, and one needs to stop. It's childish to place the removal of subsidy on the condition that you must fight corruption because it simply means that you're telling politicians that you can loot as long as you keep subsidy.