Courage To Face The Odds Of Life

Courage to face the odds of life is one of the characteristics parents wish for their children. Growing up has been a struggling and progressive one for me. As the last child of a single-parent family of four, I supported my mother in meeting family needs by hawking fruits and vegetable oil in our neighbourhood and nearby communities. Living in a low-class area of the highly-populated city of Lagos meant early child exposure to many youthful vices such as teenage pregnancy, robbery, drug abuse and prostitution; but our mother through hard work and continuous counsel ensured that these realities did not affect her children. As an act of kindness from the school owner, my siblings and I were privileged to attend a primary school in a middle-class

With the DEWEF scholarship, a scholarship for indigent brilliant students by Rotary International club, I had a smooth sail in the University of Lagos. The university also awarded me a scholarship for academic excellence during my third year which enabled me to buy a laptop for my studies. It was exciting to have a personal computer. My academic achievement can be attributed to sheer hard work. This was not without leadership experiences; I was also entrusted with important student responsibilities. For example, I was the student welfare officer in my department, organizing the yearly departmental week with other student board members. One of the highlight of the event is the career session during which alumni were invited to orientate students about career opportunities. I also served twice as the secretary of Rotary Youth club, Lagos Island chapter. During my tenure as the club secretary, I took charge in organising vocational skill training sessions such as catering, hair dressing and sewing. Furthermore, we collaborated with the university’s AIDS club to carry out awareness campaigns on personal hygiene and prevention of HIV/ AIDS during world’s AIDS day. These positions helped to improve my time management and planning skills while teaching me how to handle responsibilities effectively and

After school, my time has been effectively utilised for the realisation of my dream career. I had the privilege of working as a graduate assistant at the department of Plant science, Ekiti State University during the compulsory one year National Youth Service (NYSC). As a member of the Agricultural Community Development Scheme (Agro-CDS) unit under NYSC, I participated in farm business seminars targeted at encouraging farming in the local community of my place of primary assignment. The audiences included fellow corps members, community youths and secondary school students in view to empower them with agribusiness skills. The experience enhanced my inter-personal and presentation skills. With a view to acquiring more knowledge and developing requisite skills, after youth service, I applied and was accepted for graduate internship and later employed as a research technician in the Bioscience Centre of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). One of my colleagues opportunely informed me about the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship scheme for First class holders and encouraged me to apply. My research experience and impressive academic results helped secure the scholarship to study for a master 's degree in Molecular Plant Science at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. It was a unique opportunity to leave my home country for the first time for graduate studies abroad. My mother was very proud