“I decided not only to be a First Class student, but the very best” – Ifeoluwa

SOME people see challenges, and fold; for others, all they need is for someone or something to nudge the inner hero in them, and they go all out to ride the challenges in their way and achieve outstanding feats.

Ifeoluwa Bejide recently emerged the best graduating student of the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, with a Cumulative Grade Points Average (CGPA) of 4.93 in Microbiology. But all she needed was a simple nudge.

As a JSS 2 student, Ifeoluwa once attended the first convocation of the Redeemer’s University, in company with one Professor L. B. Kolawole.

The latter was said to have challenged her by saying “it was a female like you who collected all those prizes. You too can do it too.”

That was all that was needed, it would seem, to awaken the inner hero in Ifeoluwa. From that point on, she fixed her gaze on the highest mark, braced all the odds and eventually mounted the podium to deliver the best graduating student’s speech at RUN’s 9th convocation ceremony.

She said it was a fitting gift to her mother who, according to her, “has always been struggling for her children. I decided to not only be a first class student, but to be the best.”

And she was proud of her achievement too.

“I, Bejide Ifeoluwa, the girl who sold plantain chips, who sold pepper and tomatoes, who sold fish, who swept the classrooms (am) now a graduate!” She said while closing her graduation speech, with excitement, and to a resounding ovation from prominent Nigerians present at the convocation, including former minister of defence, Theophilus Danjuma; and the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

On the perceived limitation faced by most people from the less privileged backgrounds, Ifeoluwa said she believed that God blesses those who dream and add hard work to it.

“I always said to myself (that) I am not the first person to come from a less privileged home. If Daddy G. O. (Pastor Adeboye) could make it, why can’t I? If so many of the professors here who had poor backgrounds could make it, why should I not?”

Ifeoluwa is the first of two daughters in a family of four. She had her primary education at the ECWA Nursery and Primary School, Akure; and her secondary education at the Fiwasaye Girls Grammar School, Akure and Redeemer’s High School, Redemption Camp, Ogun State.

But she was raised by a single mother. So, how did her background affect her or influence her eventual academic success?

“My background made me a better person. I knew what I wanted. My mum is a single mother who had to pay the fees herself. So, obviously, I had to make her proud. That was like the major difference it made.

“My mum lost her job at some point. That was when I was selling pepper and other petty things. It wasn’t like I was hawking around as some reports had suggested,” she said.

“There were particularly emotional and financial challenges. The financial challenge is with respect to the fact that Redeemer’s University is a private institution, and obviously if there is no money to pay bills that would naturally make one become emotionally disturbed.

Ifeoluwa said she once had to sell recharge cards in her hostel, just to make ends meet and supplement what she got from her mother.

What study habits helped her?

“I set my priorities right. I try to determine when I want to do something. Even if I am going to procrastinate, I set a time to accomplish a task and ensure I keep up with that. This does not affect things I have already planned. I try to squeeze in my time again to make up for the lost time.”

But she also acknowledged the fact that Redeemer’s University provided the right ambience for her to succeed too. According to her, the university’s conducive environment encourages learning.

“That obviously influenced my academic success. For instance, we have constant electricity and free Wi-Fi to use to access internet individually and check for our assignments and things like that. This kind of assisted us in a way.

Did she face distractions from the opposite sex?

“I try to present myself in all decency, as is required. Regarding the opposite sex distracting me, it was obviously clear to them that I wasn’t interested in them. Even if I played with them, they knew already that I wasn’t interested (in amorous relationships). So, there wasn’t that much of a distraction.”

Ifeoluwa said she believed that success in academics is worth every effort, even if one is not going to eventually work with the certificate to earn a living later in life.

“Even if you are going into business, there is a way people tend to respect people with certificate; and you wouldn’t be at a loss when there is need to make reference to formal education.”

She said she does not have a role models, but she respects and looks up to Pastor Adeboye, and “every other person who struggled the right way to make it.”