“I was born into a polygamous home, being the 8th of my mother’s children and also the 8th of 13 children by my father. While my mother was a petty trader, my dad sold over-the-counter drugs. Driven by a zeal to give the best to their children, my parents struggled to give us the best in education despite a low monthly income.

In 2017, my father was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes after suffering from the symptoms for a long time. Earlier that year, my mom’s shop was closed down due to dwindling sales, which made even the payment of rent difficult. It was a terrible year for us, and a major reason I won’t go to school despite gaining admission to study Pharmacy at Anambra State University. I continued to work hard and gained admission to UI the following year to study medicine. 

Amidst little resources, my dad borrowed to pay my fees and continued to support me with a monthly allowance of Ten Thousand Naira all through my 100L. In April 2020, my dad died after being rushed to the hospital for a brief illness. The effect was that the bulk of my support was cut off, and it seemed like I was going to drop out after 100L. Due to the long break occasioned by COVID-19, I spent a long time at home, so I channelled my energy towards doing menial jobs and saving the little I could. This had negative effects on my health because this was the first time I was doing such jobs, yet I continued working and saving, knowing that the university could open at any time, and I had major financial commitments to meet up with. These include school fees, rent, health professional levy, books to be bought, and my own upkeep. 

Schools resumed in 2021, and I was beginning 200L. At this time, the total I had saved amounted to a little above forty-five thousand naira. This was way less than the amount of money I needed to meet my fees. With no financial headway, my mom obtained a loan from a cooperative society. By May, I was awarded a scholarship by the Shell Petroleum Development Company. Part of the initial payment was channelled towards paying the loan which my mom had borrowed earlier. Another part was saved towards paying my fees for the following year.

With the little money she made from her sales, my mom continued to support me with a monthly stipend of five thousand naira. This, of course, was not enough and implied that I would manage on very limited resources. However, she continued to encourage me to be prayerful and hopeful. By the time a new session resumed for 300L in January 2022, I had about sixty thousand saved in the bank from my previous scholarship payment I received from Shell. As this was not enough, I encouraged my mom to borrow again from the co-operative society she borrowed from earlier, hoping that I would get paid by Shell later in the year and we would be able to offset the loan. Sadly, the university would be closed in February due to the ASUU strike, and Shell would not make any payment. 

By the time the strike started, I had already started preparations for the Part 1 MBBS examination, which was scheduled to be held in April of last year. It was for this I would stay in Ibadan for two months, studying and hoping the strike would be called off. As it was becoming clear that no headway was in sight, I left Ibadan for home in April. I signed up with a barber in May and started learning to cut hair. I had hoped that by having such a skill, I would be able to work while studying and earn some money for my upkeep in school.

In August, a member of my community who deals in oil palm production and sales asked me if I was willing to work with him. Reasoning that I would be able to work with him while learning barbering, I agreed and resumed work with him. There was no agreement regarding what he would pay monthly, but he promised to support my education. In this way, I combined learning a skill with working and also created some study time for myself, knowing that I had a major examination at stake, which I would be writing whenever school resumes.

While I was coming to school in November, he gave me some money to cover my transportation and promised to send me some money every month. However, he sent money to me only once in November. When I reached out to him, he complained about dwindling sales and how he was struggling to take care of his family and his children, who are in school. Working with him prevented me from doing my barbering training very well, and hence am back to the same point. Having to wait for what my mom sends me before I can feed.

I am currently managing with the little she gives me. Whenever I am sick, I have to go to Jaja and queue for long hours because I don’t have money to buy drugs at the pharmacy. I trek long distances daily because I stay off campus where I am presently squatting with a friend…”