Overall best graduate of the First Technical University, Ibadan, Mariam Afonja, has recalled how some fellow students said she and her colleagues were doing yahoo yahoo when they endlessly read and coded for success.
Afonja had the opportunity to tell her story on Saturday, when the university held its first convocation.
In her speech as the best student with some three other choice prizes, Afonja, who hails from Sepeteri in Oyo north, said hard work and God’s faithfulness accounted for her feat.
She said, “This reminds me of some challenges I faced in my first semester 200 level. I had always had fear for Mathematics even before we started receiving lectures, because of the fear those in Engineering Faculty instilled in me about it and the fact that I don’t really like calculations, and the computer programming called CSC. The two courses seemed like a mountain then, to the extent that when I saw my mid-semester results, I thought I was not going to make it forward.
“But I didn’t let it weigh me down. I continued to put in hard work with a lot of prayers. I spent several sleepless nights reading and coding with friends to the extent that some people started joking by saying we were doing yahoo yahoo. But here I am today, standing as the best overall graduating student of the first set. I give all thanks to the ever faithful Allah.
While the programme attracted prominent people from different parts of the world and beyond, the university conferred honorary doctoral awards on five eminent Nigerians.
These are Chief Tunde J Afolabi, who is the Chairman of AMNI Petroluem; Chief Adebayo Akande. Splash FM Chairman; Chief Amal Pepple – elder stateswoman and accomplished administrator; Professor Toyin Falola – erudite professor of History; and Mr Segun Agbaje, Guaranty Trust Bank Managing Director.
