Hunger pushes several people over the edge. Some steal, others
kill many destroy but Ifeoluwa’s hunger for success drove her along the
long, dusty and narrow path to greatness.
“I, Bejide Ifeoluwa,
the girl who sold plantain chips, who sold pepper and tomatoes, who sold
fish, who swept the classrooms is now a graduate!”
With those
words she received a resounding ovation from prominent Nigerians
including former minister of defence – Theophilus Danjuma and the
General Overseer of the Redeemed Church Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
Ifeoluwa
finished with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.93. If you ever
went through the rigours to get a first class you would understand the
long hours, the pain and self deprivation she had to endure consistently
for 4 years.
What drove her?
According to Ifeoluwa, her
story started at the first convocation of the same institution which she
attended as a JSS 2 student in company of Professor L.B. kolawole who
later challenged her saying, “it was a female like you who collected all
those prizes, you too can do it.”
“In other to pay back a
mother like this who has always been struggling for her children, I
decided to not only be a first class student, but to be the best”, she
said.
Speaking on the perceived limitation faced by most people
from less privileged backgrounds, Ifeoluwa says God blesses those who
dream and add hardwork to it.
“I always said to myself, I am
not the first person to come from a less privileged home. If Daddy G.O
(pastor E.A. 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?”