₦airaland Forum

Oyindamola Omotuyi, will be graduating as the
top of her class and her year mates with the
highest Cumulative Grade Point Average of 5.0
from the Department of Systems Engineering
in the University of Lagos on January 25, 2017
She is the first female to achieve the
perfect C.G.P.A in UNILAG history and
also the first engineering student to
achieve such a feat in the faculty of
Engineering at the prestigious University
of First Choice and Nation’s Pride,the
second person to achieve the perfect
grade point after Ayodele Dada in Nigeria.
In a tete-a-tete interview, an I-witness sat
with down the woman of God in the control
laboratory – around her faculty, where she
spent most of her last weeks at UNILAG
finalizing her project to hear her story and
experiences in Akoka.


Q: Oyinda can you please introduce yourself
to us?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Omotuyi Oyindamola
Ajoke, Systems Engineering

Q: You just achieved a feat that quite a lot of
people are wondering how you did it and not
just how you did it but going back to how you
started, can you just us through your story?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: My whole life revolves
around a man and that is Jesus. I would rather
say that there is really nothing…. People say
God did it probably to end up a particular story,
it was good O! Olorun lo se(God did it O!) and
something like that and really not understand
that actually. God did it because all the while
through five years there was actually a
particular wisdom to apply at every particular
time, that is the truth. So I’m not been
religious by saying God did it, I’m just been
truthful about it. So obviously there is wisdom
to do everything that you are supposed to do.
A student obviously will obviously read. A
student will always go for overnight but yet
there is just something different about
everybody. There is really nothing I will say,
there is an extra thing I did but let me just say
probably working with classmates, probably
reading with classmates and encouragements
from friends like classmates from people like
Gbemi (present at the interview) and Yemisi
and all of that. So that is what I will just say
and let me put it like this, it is not really about
the 5.0 (Cumulative Grade Point Average
CGPA) it is doing what you are supposed to
do at the right time and doing the right thing
at the right time. You know many students will
just go to Library and just read but the
question is, are you reading the right thing?
What submits the result is you going to class,
doing assignments and exams. So if you can
obviously have an A in exam obviously you
have a 5.0 (CGPA). So what are the things
that actually facilitate you passing your
exams? It is the question your lecturer
probably gives you. Answering the question in
the right way, in the way that the lecturer
wants to see it not the way you want to write
it actually helps out in winning some things.
And not just rushing to read, you can ride on
the backs of people that have done it and not
be proud. And understand that you are a
different person. Like when I was young they
said nobody had ever had an A in FSC 102
(Physics Practical) in Systems (Engineering)
and am like ok. They said the best person they
have had never had it. I said ok, that is
them,I’ M A DIFFERENT PERSON, WE HAVE A
DIFFERENT PATH! So I believe even if
someone has not done it, someone can pick it
up to do it, that is the truth but then it is really
not necessarily for show because I stopped
reading because I wanted to pass in year 3.
Rather I started reading because I needed to
teach people because how will you be in a
class and will not understand the course.
Eighty percent of the class will not understand
the course, so it was very terrible all these
things. So sometimes you just have to read
because you have to teach people. Sometimes
you just the call ‘come and teach me
something’ from a friend and that thing you
have not read it. So I had a lot of that and I
had to teach them on the spot.

Q: As a young black woman, where you are in
a field that has very few black women, in fact
very few women to be precise, what will you
say to the young girl out there that maybe
doesn’t even want to go into engineering?
Maybe wants to go into another field but she
is scared of a field where it is mainly male
dominated. What will you tell them?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Engineering is mainly not
for the males so to speak, it is for both
genders. I did not really see anything we did
that was solely for males. Ok probably when
we were in year one and had to cut with a
saw. You can obviously do it. It actually just
depends to the field that you are actually
going into. There are some fields that probably
are very mechanical but then let me just put it
has this – Anyone that wants to come for
engineering that is a female can obviously
come, because it is actually sweeter, better. I
didn’t like medicine, because I didn’t like
reading. I like calculations. So that is the best
place to go to! So if your best subject is
Mathematics and Further Mathematics
Engineering is the best place for you. So it is
not hard labour like people use to think
engineering is. In fact it is more technical. You
can be in engineering and you are a
programmer and obviously programming
involves thinking and everybody can think.
Either you are a male or a female. So there is
no gender inequality.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your background?
What helped you maybe when you were in
secondary school, in primary school?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Ok let me say it all
started from secondary school. I had a very
good family. My father is a Jack-o-meter

Q You dad was a Jack-o-meter?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Meaning he could read
till day break. Do you understand?

Q: So people don’t know the meaning of Jack-
o-meter

(Laughter)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: So that atmosphere was
always at home that you had to be serious. In
Primary School, you don’t eat when you get
home until you have done your assignment, you
get what I mean, they were strict. Secondary
school was a bit kind of, ok let me put it like
this when I finished primary school, I felt my
primary school was not that ok for me because
I was taught some things that were not right,
not right, not really correct like that. So I just
felt I was duller, probably entering secondary
school I felt I should be the worst student. In
fact I liked staying at the back. I like being the
person that they will flog. I like just being very
naughty. In fact I was very very naughty.

(Laughter)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Until somebody came to
meet me that you are always staying at the
back why don’t you come to the front. One of
the reasons was because the people – the
grade of people that entered secondary school
with me were from very high and reputable
school. You hear Apata Memorial High School.

(Laughter)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: The lecturer, the teacher
rather probably said I should spell something
and I started following from that experience.
One day, the teacher asked a kind of question,
and I was a very very shy person that doesn’t
like talking in class. I knew the answer but I
didn’t like to talk. The teacher just picked on
me that I should answer the question and I
was like ok. After a while, I answered the
question and they said I was correct and I was
happy. As in, that day in class changed the
orientation that you can actually be successful,
you can actually do it.

Oyindamola Omotuyi: The Lord had it that I
passed through a particular path. My
secondary school was all beautiful. I had first
position from Junior Secondary School 1(J.S.S
1) to Senior Secondary School 3 (S.S.S 3)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: So coming to University
was just a continuation of what had happened.

Q: Do you sometimes feel like a lot of students
are not doing well in school or are not doing
as well as they should be doing in school
because they have not gotten that re-
affirmation from people that they can do it?
That they can achieve greatness, that they are
smart.

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Sometimes
encouragement is always good. Some people
probably in their family get discouraged.
Especially when they compare you with
somebody, so even your little effort, even if it
is been seen and been encouraged that is a
way of getting people to do better.
Q: What secondary school did you attend?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: SMA college.

Q: SMA college, where was that located?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Jakande Estate

Q: So you grew up in Jakande Estate?

Oyinda Omotuyi: No I didn’t but I started my
secondary school, is it secondary school or
primary school? I was in primary school when I
was in (Jakande) Estate but I didn’t start my
primary school in estate, I started my primary
school in Ejigbo (Lagos)

Q: So what made you pick Systems
Engineering of all the Engineering degrees?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Ok first of all I wanted
to go for Engineering and I wanted to go for a
course that I will be doing computer anything
computer and anything electrical. Systems
Engineering is a combination and fortunately it
is only University of Lagos that is offering the
course in Nigeria then.

Q: So you actually picked systems engineering?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Yes

Q: On your Joint Admission Matriculation
(JAMB) Form?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Yes

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Yes like Wow!

(Laughter)

Q: So tell me about that JAMB experience. Did
you have to do JAMB three times like
everybody else?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Ok. The year I did JAMB
was a year of examinations, that is what I will
call it. January was pre-mock, February was
Mock, March was Mock, April to May was West
African Senior School Certificate Exam
(WASSCE), June was JAMB Exam, June to
July was Nigerian Examination Council (NECO)
Exam. Then September to October was
General Certificate of Education (GCE) then
October was resumption into UNILAG!
: Wow!

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Yea so it was a year of
examinations! So obviously I did JAMB only
once and I scored 315 (out of 400)
Q: You just mentioned 315 like…
Oyindamola Omotuyi: like?

Q: Like it was 206?

(Both Laugh)

Q: So JAMB 315, a primary school that nobody
knows, it sounds like a story of greatness out
of a low-key background?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Exactly, so everything
started from primary four. I know I was best in
my class four. Also I worked on challenge in
my secondary school.

Q: What is challenge?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Ok. There was a day
they called a girl to our assembly ground and
they were like this girl, she was in Junior
Secondary School Three (J.S.S 3) celebrating
WAEC for J.S.S 3 and all that and they were
like this girl, I think I was in J.S.S 1. This girl
had first position first term then second
position second term I was like why is there an
A.C current?

Q: You understood A.C current back then?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: No I didn’t

Q: Ok

Oyindamola Omotuyi: But later I wanted a D.C
current, constant something. And there are
sometimes it is not just about a first position.
Just like UNILAG – 70 and 100 is still an A but
you won’t know the gravity of all those things
until you probably go abroad. Abroad, A is like
90 to 94

Q: Yes

Oyindamola Omotuyi: 90 to 94 is actually
Seun Noibi & Oyinda Omotuyi: A (minus)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: So like that, my sister
was just calling one day and asking is it
possible for someone to get 10/10 in all those
subjects? I was like hmmn just try it out

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Secondary School was
just trying lots of things out but University was
majorly based on faith, you know…wisdom of
God.

Q: So now back to that faith. You graduated
still with your 5.0 CGPA and if I remember
correctly you were an executive in your
fellowship for the last two or three years?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Last two years

Q: How did you balance faith and school?


Oyindamola Omotuyi: Ok. Let me put it like
this, year 4 was a bit ok but I was both
assistant in both places
Q: Assistant in what?


Oyindamola Omotuyi: Assistant Drama
Coordinator in RCF UNILAG, Assistant
Academic and Library Secretary in Engineering
Student Christian Association (I.G
@escaunilag)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: So I was basically just
an assistant. And obviously you know the right
thing to do at the right time, so just do it! That
is the truth. Let me put it like this, everybody
has twenty four hours, it just depends on the
way you use it. And there is always a direction
there is always a leading, there is always a
structure. I sometimes know when it is time to
read. You just know. But year five was very
tedious, trust me I was actually at a point let it
just end, trust me.

(Laughter)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: At a point I had to miss
classes and all of that.

Oyindamola Omotuyi: But then thank God for,
when I say thank God for some people, thank
God for them mehn. They were just there and
do what I am supposed to be doing. So
probably, sometimes I didn’t have to cook.
SeQun Noibi: So final year you were vice
president at RCF?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Yes. Vice-President at
RCF (I.G @rcfunilag) and Academic and
Library at ESCA (I.G @escaunilag)
Oyindamola Omotuyi: Engineering Student
Christian Association

Q: You said a lot about faith; you said a lot
about God, do you think you could have still
achieved this if you were not a Christian?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: For me, I would say that
it won’t have been possible

Q: Why is that?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: For me I don’t know how
to be if there is a Life without God. I don’t
know, trust me. No, don’t trust me

(Laughter)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Trust me I don’t know. I
just know that if there was no God along the
way I would have given up. I had breaking
points, three breaking points. All of them were
electrical courses, electrical, electrical then
computer engineering. They were breaking
points, a day before my exam I would see test
result 9/30. A day before the exam!

(Laughter)

Oyindamola Omotuyi: What should I read for
the exam? Or you see 5/40. What else? If it
weren’t for God this wouldn’t have happened
that is the simple truth.

Q: The reason why I ask that is we have to be
truthful I’m a student also here too and you
see a lot of people that are actively with God
on campus but it is not really showing in their
Grade Point Average (GPA). To those people
what will you tell them? They are serving God
but it is not showing in their GPA

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Ok, it really depends. Let
me put it like this. For you to have a very good
GPA sometime your department is a factor. Do
you understand? I will rather say as long as
you have done your own part and it is glaring
that this is what you are supposed to do and
this is what you are supposed to get and this
is what the Lord will have you get, fine it
doesn’t have to be a first class, doesn’t have
to be a second class. So in fact if I had
finished with a 5.0 CGPA without God probably
I will be miserable. So what I’m saying is that
it is not really about the GPA being high or
low. Let it be glaring that, I have done my own
part, then it now look like oh it was the
lecturer, it was the department. And some
cases like that, the Lord will leave it like that
probably just to tell you some things. The Lord
is not interested in you failing. The Lord is
interested in you passing. Let me put it like
that.

Q: Now finally, thanks so much for your time.
Future plans, what are you planning on doing?

Oyindamola Omotuyi: Systems Engineering is a
very good course, in fact it has very great
prospect. Probably Nigeria has not yet gone
through or sourced out its value in Nigeria,
because the three major aspects in UNILAG
are control, operation research and robotics. I
think I missed one, Simulation and modelling.
So now these areas have not been explored
and there are a lot of areas. If you ask me
what I will like to do I would rather like to
explore in all of those areas. They are a lot,
computer vision, my project was based on
robotics, a drone and all of that, so there a lot
of prospects. Going abroad for masters is a
good idea. It is a good prospect to be able to
go into this field very well.

cc: lalasticlala

okwyee:

If that's true, it's a great achievement..
But.... I hope his 5.0 isnt la cram la puer like is the case for most 1st class students i know sha...
Education in this country really need transformation!

its not easy to la cram la pour in engineering esp in unilag cos I finished from there too but not engineering dept

She z not d only female with 5.0 . Another girl graduated with 5.0 from d dept of Cell Biology and genetics and her name is Bankole Taiwo.

More than 3 ppl graduated with 5.0 this yr. My father mocked me by saying " My son when u were in sch what were u doing with ur time? "

I never said she's the only one n if I did, it was a mistake..

dixon400:
She z not d only female with 5.0 . Another girl graduated with 5.0 from d dept of Cell Biology and genetics and her name is Bankole Taiwo.

More than 3 ppl graduated with 5.0 this yr. My father mocked me by saying " My son when u were in sch what were u doing with ur time? "

Yu should av jst humbly reply him by asking him wat he had bck then in skul too