I had no hostel, survived on garri – LASU Best Graduating Student

Aminat Yusuf, the best graduating student for the 2021/2022 set in Lagos State University (LASU) has narrated how she survived her stay in the University despite not having an accomodation of her own and living on ‘gari’ most of the times.

Yusuf, whose father is a journalist and mother a business woman,  spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

She attributed her success to her parents for motivating and inspiring her to achieve the feat, her lecturers for right mentoring, hard work and God’s guidance.

ValidViewNetwork had earlier reported that the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had given Aminat Yusuf the sum of N10 Million for emerging the best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 5.00 (First Class Honours).

An apparently elated Yusuf stated : “The events of the past few days have motivated me to share in brief my story, in a bid to inspire many others who are in a similar situation as I was and are striving towards excellence,” she said.

”I called for financial support only under compelling circumstances, after I have exhausted all options.

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“As a result, I experienced some serious financial constraints during my two plus four years stay at LASU.

“In 200 Level, second semester, just because I needed to get a browsing phone and get trained in computer skills, I saved up about 90 per cent of my feeding allowance,” Yusuf said.

She said that she settled for garri and groundnuts for a larger part of the semester, which one of her friends considered absurd and told every available listener.

“For most part of my days as an undergraduate, I lived in the university premises, because I had no hostel, and going home every day would have been absolutely inconvenient.

“The school had a stand-by security and standard lighting system, so, it was safe for me; my major challenge was having to attend lectures every day in a neatly ironed white and black dress, acting like everything was perfect,” Yusuf said.

She also spoke on her first day in LASU for the physical screening, towards admission into diploma in law programme.

“I remember fantasising about achieving a remarkable feat in this prestigious university.

“I first did Diploma in Law programme, which runs for two years, in which students are taught compulsory law courses, with a view to offering direct entry admission to top class students.

“I studied really hard and prayed so fervently towards achieving excellence; I graduated from the programme with a CGPA of 4.98 and this was the best in my set.

“The possibility of graduating with such grade motivated the yearning to graduate with a perfect CGPA at the undergraduate level,” Yusuf said.

She called on well-meaning Nigerians to invest in the education sector and lauded the passing into law of the Student Loan Act in the country.

“I believe this will no doubt be of immeasurable value to our education system.

“While I struggled financially through my education, I don’t desire such hardship for students coming behind us, especially the female students,” Yusuf said.

She appreciated the LASU management for sustaining the congenial and conducive environment that contributed to her excellent performance.

“I am deeply grateful to my parents for their sacrifice, unwavering support towards my education.

“My parents really motivated me from their different careers; my father is a journalist while my mother is a business woman.

“Thanks to my faculty lecturers for their reflex of excellence, commitment and dedication teaching us to be the best.

“I will like to use this opportunity to launch a YouTube channel tagged “Learning Law with Aminat* with a goal of giving back to society through my immediate community,” Yusuf said. (NAN)