Uzairue-Amos Ishaku, a 27-year-old internally displaced person (IDP) from Borno State, has been named Edo State University’s top graduating student.
Ishaku attained this historic record despite having to sit for his O’level exams seven times in a row before being admitted to university.
Ishaku noted, when recounting his ordeals and journey to academic success, that after he “got into SS3 in 2015,” he began taking his studies seriously.
He said that he originally applied for NABTEB exams with the help of a Pastor, Solomon Folorunsho.
As quoted by Punch, Ishaku said:
“I scored an F9 parallel in that NABTEB exam. The result was demoralising but the pastor said that we would take other O’Level exams and told us that he would never support examination malpractice. It was then I said to myself, I will do everything possible to make my papers.
“I took O’Level exams seven times in three years but I got more demoralising because I was studying hard and wasn’t getting the result.”
He said that after failing many O’level exams in 2016, he became frustrated.
Pastor Folorunsho, according to Ishaku, was his source of motivation. He said that the clergyman refused to encourage exam cheating, and that the unusual miracle occurred in 2018.
He said:
“In 2016, I felt I had tried enough but Pastor told me to remain focused as I was not going to pay for the exams. After studying hard, I made my paper in a NECO exam I took in 2018.”
Isaku is a Chemical Engineering graduate who received a N5 million entrepreneurship prize from the university administration for his academic performance.
According to a statement from the university’s social media account:
“5 Million Naira Entrepreneurship Award by Edo State University Uzairue
“The University, in her usual policy of encouraging entrepreneurship among students, awarded a total of five million naira in prizes to Ishaku AMOS (N2.5m) from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Isaac Ose OKOEGUALE (N2.5m) from the Department of Anatomy, who both emerged with the best Entrepreneurship Business Plan for the 2022/2023 Academic Session.”
