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| SODIQ WITH LATEEF JAKANDE |
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| SODIQ WITH LATEEF JAKANDE |
The student, a holder of National Diploma (ND) certificate epitomizes perseverance, doggedness and a true representation of hustler, who is determined to attain his goal in the face of all odds.
Though, going by his background that presented him a little chance for survival, Sodiq throughout his programme in the institution kept on wading through the muddy waters of life. The second child of a family of four was the cynosure of all eyes at the institution’s convocation ceremony when he was adjudged the best graduating student among the 2012 class, by coming out in Distinction.
Basking in the euphoria of his success, Sodiq, who is currently studying English Language at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), said the journey to his success was riddled with difficulties, as he had to battle poverty, hunger and want, to survive the humiliation he suffered several times in the course of the programme. He explained: “The experience was bitter and very unpleasant too.
I grew up in the densely populated Ebute Meta area of Lagos. My father is a tailor, and mother a petty trader, who had difficulties in raising us. I struggled to complete my secondary school education by engaging in menial jobs including serving at parties and hawking of sachet water, among others.”
He, however, recalled: “Fortune smiled on me when on the day of my graduation ceremony at Longford International School, Ebute Meta in Lagos Mainland in 2008, when I delivered an emotion laden speech as the school’s head boy. One woman I never knew just approached me from the crowd and squeezed something into my hand, which I later discovered later to be N5,000.”
According to him, his joy knew no bound and that was the money he used to set up a recharge card business and telephone calls in Makoko, a slum in Lagos.
“But the business never lasted more than months as debtors ran me out of business,” he recalled, saying undaunted by his socio-economic challenges, he enrolled for GSM repair training at Okam Solutions, also in Makoko, where he learnt phone and computer repair works. He hinted that it was part of the money he saved as an apprentice that he used to obtain admission forms into the Nigerian Institute of Journalism.
Sodiq said: “Even when I secured admission all efforts to raise the school fees proved abortive, until a fellow classmate, Agbaje Esther, who decided to forgo her admission into the institute to resume to the University of Lagos to study Russian Language, transferred to me the school fees she paid. That was the saving grace.”
Meanwhile, having completed his phone repair training, Sodiq spoke of how he partnered a friend, Afeez, to start their phone repair business, but which was never a smooth ride as erratic power supply posed serious difficulty.
Thus, in order to meet up with his school needs, Sodiq joined a sachet water factory, D-Truth Pure Water, in Ebute Meta, where he was deployed to supply water to customers. From here he joined the A3 Water in Agege area, apparently to move close to his school.
“I could remember how Wasilat Kabiawu would bring me foodstuff from home, and I dash for helping some students in their assignments,” he recalled, adding that sometime he had to sleep at Ikeja bus stop any day he was unable to raise the required transport fare to take him home.
When asked about his major unforgettable period in his course of study, Sodiq recalled the day he was embarrassed by a lecturer in class, who asked his classmates to contribute money so that he can buy good clothes.
He said: “One day, the lecturer wondered that I do dress shabbily and so he asked the class to contribute money for me. It was so embarrassing that I had to cover my face in shame. That is to tell you the irony of life, where the child of a tailor cannot wear good clothes.”
But today, Sodiq said he is grateful to the Almighty God and his parents, who he said genuinely showed interest to help, but that they are incapacitated. Especially my mother, I must be grateful to her because she really tried to see me through secondary school education.”
Today, as a student of OAU, Sodiq said his aspiration in life is to serve God and humanity, by bringing smiles to the faces of the less-privileged through whatever forms of assistance he can render.
New Telegraph – Unfazed by poverty, student emerges overall best.htm
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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