Balogun Florence Ouwatoyin is a first class graduate of National Open University, in this interview with National Insight Crew, She spoke extensively on how she made a first class and her disappointment that she was not offered Job by the institute which make her to conclude on seeking for a Job to finance her further studies
Can we meet your ?
I am Balogun Florence Oluwatoyin, I was born in the early 90’s in Lagos, the last child of five
How old are you ?
I am 25
Why did it take you so long to graduate from University?
Actually I had a lot of issues while seeking for admission, the first one was my WAEC I wrote my first SSCE when I was in SS1, then I had mathematics , English language and some other papers but I didn’t have physics and chemistry and the reason then was that our chemistry teacher lost her husband so for almost two terms we were unable to do chemistry and as for physics, the only topic our physics teacher taught us was acceleration and velocity then I had issues with physics and chemistry so till SS 3 ,I still wrote WAEC in that same school in 200I made only English and Yoruba with F9 in physics and Chemistry and in2008 I enrolled again in a private school somewhere around Jankara I also attended private lesions because then I was lagging behind in both physics and chemistry ,I was able to make up from that,
How many times did you write WAEC before you eventually made it
The one I wrote in 2008 was the only one I did when I left school, I left in 2007 and that of GCE when I was in SS 1, after that of 2008 I combined my result and write JAMB, its not that I don’t pass JAMB, the only one I didn’t pass well was the one I did in SS2 where I made 185, but afterwards I have to put more efforts my siblings were harsh so they don’t tolerate special centers you just have to read and pass, I passed and I wanted to go to University of Ilorin , I wanted to do medicine or Nursing and finish quickly all through it was a real struggle, after JAMB I enrolled at LAUTEH wanted to do degree so I could get admission into BSC nursing along the line, the predgree took like two years, they increased the fees, I thing from 90 to over hundred thousand naira, we had issue with that and others eventually I ended up getting fine art,
Fine Art?, What did you do with it ?
I was bent on no, I can’t do fine art I don’t even know how to draw a cup, I went ahead and left to school a friend introduce NOUN to me and I tried it , I didn’t tell anybody, my reasons where all my siblings attended polytechnic and I was determined that I will not go to polytechnic, I must attend University anywhere , I must be in University, I got the form I didn’t tell anybody it was after I got the form that I went home I told my Dad about the development and he said anything I like so that was how I got into NOUN in 2012
What was your impression about NOUN before gaining admission into the school?
Then some people were of the opinion that the certificate is not recognize , and all sort of things but I wasn’t moved I said to myself that since this school is owned by Federal government and it is recognized,
Has experienced at the school changed your orientation about it
Yes it did, it changed a lot of it I can now on my own do most things , when we first came in they gave us facilitation instead of lecture, then they will bring lectures from outside to lecture us , the facilitation went on in hundred level and after a while I said I could do things on my own ,read and well understand so I was doing my things at home and read and something helped me again I have a group of friends that do come around , whatever I read I would explain to that by doing so I was gaining more, it was helping me to develop intellectually , gradually people come to me asking me to teach them certain things and I joyfully do it, that was how I gain more
Don’t you feel inferior when you have your colleagues from regular and conventional university around?
Yeah there were some of them that were saying that I wasn’t in school but I do tell them let the book judge, lets do it in a normal way so you will know that not been in a conventional University doesn’t make me inferior, I wasn’t feeling inferior even for the NYSC because some of my friend raised it but I told them that I don’t care, NYSC is rubbish, to me it should be cancelled
Why is it rubbish
I see it as a waste of time, within that one year, one can do better things and make money than wasting a whole year all in the name of serving father land
So how did you made first class
Well when I was in LAUTECH, I had a diary, they asked us to write out the things we want to achieved in five years time so in that diary I wrote to graduate with a minimum of Second class Upper, (2;1) so in first semester hundred level I had issues with physics and chemistry , to me then chemistry was so tough you know I told you my chemistry background in secondary school, so I met a guy name Samuel through a guy I was dating so Samuel was in University of Ibadan so I do go to him for tutorials In chemistry , he tried for me in the inorganic and practical aspect of chemistry, I can’t forget him , but upon all I still have D then hundred level first semester my GP was 4.0 second semester I did very well it was OK, two hundred level first and second semester I have 4.8 and 4.9, in 300 level I was in 4.7 when I calculated my result, here in Ibadan they don’t show us our GP , I went to the headquarters to check, they just told me I had 4.47 that It just remain 0.03 to get to a first class, so I made up my mind that I am going to make a 5.0 in 400 level but unfortunately I don’t know I had two B’s I didn’t make 5.0, I knew that they gave me the B’s intentionally because the course was too simple and nobody made A in those two courses and that was how my GP was 4.9 and afterall I have a 4.53 at the end of the whole thing
You are saying that you worked hard for it with no romance or any kind of relationship with the lecturers
The funniest part is in NOUN you don’t know the person that marks your paper so there is no how you want to romance a lecctuer, if you want to romance them may be you are just giving them free and I can’t do that, I can’t sell my body for marks, we don’t know the person that marks the scripts, you don’t even see the script they marked and when I went to the headquarters in Lagos I learned that papers are being marked through conference marking, I don’t know anybody, it was God
Do you attend parties and other social activities,
I don’t rock parties, the few ones that I attend may be weddings are even once in a while , while in school I learnt cake and decoration infact be in school I was an huzzler I huzzled because I am not those kind of girls that do sells their bodies for money, after from engaging in catering and decoration I do solve Tutored Mass Assignments TMA’ s for those that are not in my department , I solve it for them even till PGD levels and they pay me money and people do call me for cakes and decoration and its not affecting the school because I had my time well planned I was even involve in a church of activities my social is not that low
In a conventional school when people graduates with first class they get different kind of gifts and sometimes automatic employment, how did it go in your own case
No I have not gotten in fact I expected that they were going to give me immediate employment I only got and handshake and an award, that’s all and even the best graduating student too is an accounting student, they just gave him gift , I never heard they gave him job employment too, I know getting a job for first class graduate may not be hard
What do you intend doing now
Well I am going to do my master as FUNNAB, that is the only school where they have environmental management and toxicology, I did environmental science at undergraduate so Iwant to go further but the master I want to do I want to do it with my own fund, I want to sponsor myself so I need to get a Job so as to sponsor myself for further studies, I don’t want to be on my Dad’s neck
How did your dad feel when you told him you made a first class?
He was soo happy, I don’t want to tell him initially, but when he told me he wont be able to go because of money, I didn’t come from a rich family he was happy but there is no how he could make it to Abuja
What advise do you have for young girls and ladies out there?
I have a lot of them around me that says they want to be like me but I do tell them that they have to be focus, when you are too social, you may not get that goal achieved as you would like, you don’t attend all parties, I do attend party but there are some party where you can’t even find me , I can go to church vigil but I don’t go to dinner award, I love attending weddings too but not all the time and it doesn’t disturb my focus, so young ladies our there especially those of you who think first class is not visible I can tell you that it is visible if you know what you are doing
