Moshood Muraina, a recent graduate from Usmanu Danfodiyo University and an indigene of Saki, Oyo State, has been confirmed as the best and only first-class graduate in the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Life Science for the 2020/2021 academic session.
Moshood, 28, who bagged the feat with Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.56, graduated from secondary school in 2012 with a strong desire to study medicine and surgery in university and become a medical doctor in later years.
As fate would have it, the Saki-born graduate narrated how he waited for 5 years until he had to settle Biochemistry with a 283 score in UTME — higher institutions’ entry examination.
“The cut-off mark for medicine in that year was 290, so, when admission came out, I was offered biochemistry and I was fine with it. At least, I got into the university after waiting for 5 years,” said Moshood.
Mashood’s creepy road to the university didn’t end there. He was offered Biochemistry by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) after scoring 283 in its UTME but the university offered him another medical course for scoring 375 from its school of Matric — a remedial course for admission seekers. But according to him, the admission through the university’s school of matric was a fool’s paradise. JAMB didn’t take long to send a directive. And it was a warm reunion with his fate — Biochemistry.
“Hope for a medical course came to life when I got another admission, Medical Laboratory Science(MLS), through my 375 scores in matrics. I was very happy. One day, I was in the department when a directive came from JAMB to cancel all admissions that were not through the body, and that was how I lost the MLS, I cried my eyes out,” he narrated.
Speaking with Tribune CampusXtra, the young graduate shared how he survived on selling snacks on campus for survival. He said his background was no different from millions of Nigerian students who come from poor or middle-class homes. But venturing into dough-making business with the assistance of his senior colleague to support himself and his retired teacher-father was a lifesaving decision.
“I had to support myself with a puff-puff business that one of my good seniors and mentors (Alfa Yusuf) started a year before, so I asked for his equipment after he graduated and was leaving Sokoto. So, I continued, I fried puffs every morning, that way; morning classes were a no for me. I missed all the morning lectures then. But I read, and the fact that I did matric helped me a lot.
“My first year was the toughest. At the time, my parents were the only support system I had. My dad is a retired teacher, and my Mum is a tailor,” said Moshood.
Continuing, the Biochemistry graduate, who was recently mobilised for one year mandatory National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, explained how his ‘side-hustle’ affected his academic performance in 100-level when he ended up with 4.07-grade points, but for helping his coursemates, which according to him, made the concepts more clearer.
“I love helping my colleagues to understand difficult concepts and that helped me a lot because while explaining multiple times I understand better.
“All my friends are people who strived to achieve excellent results, so we taught ourselves throughout. Above all, as I’ve said earlier, it’s Allah’s will that manifests,” he added
He, however, encouraged other students to choose their hard work wisely and know what works for them.
“Striving to have an excellent result is hard, but failure is not easy either. So, choose your ‘hard’ but wisely. Know what works for you and keep doing it. Make up for your wasted time. That way, it won’t be as hard as it seems,” Moshood enjoined.
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