end of the academic year as was the practice then. Everyone stayed in the row assigned to their classes and the award giving ceremony began. Suddenly someone pulled at me, I looked up, it was my class teacher. I had just been called as the overall best student for the entire morning and afternoon schools that academic year and I didn’t respond. It couldn’t be me. There had to be another person with same name and I just didn’t know. I stood there, transfixed, hence, my teacher coming to get me. I will forever have the picture of that moment in my head; barefooted, torn uniform and no parents… My only possession, a plastic lunch bowl held to my chest, the thunderous applause as I walked to the podium to receive my award, it was a defining moment in my childhood. It suddenly dawned on me as I stood on that podium and looked down at the crowd, that perhaps, I was somebody… and the world was the stage where I made a difference…
Growing up, I was very introverted. I was an observer and listener but whenever I decided to use my voice, it was clear to everyone that I came with a distinct voice. I was the silent nonconformist; never the one afraid to have a differing opinion. I questioned things, it was important that I understood ‘why’ (my love for research and analysis probably stemmed from this). I was a science student but read Shakespeare, books on accounting, government, anything and everything. If there was a paper and it had print on it, I would read it. By the time I was a teenager, I was reading the likes of Tom Clancy, Jeffery Hatcher, and Sidney Sheldon. Then I took to writing. I had a big book of different write ups; they came as short stories, poems, songs… Then later, I started using scissors to cut papers into different designs of clothes. Late teenage, I was part of a music group and did some backup vocals too. I loved the art of creating. I love art. The ability to create something concrete out of imagination or simply observing happenings, greatly fascinated me.
I was president of literary and debating society in high school and represented the school in various competitions including the first Cowbell Math competition in Lagos. I was also shortlisted for a project by International Youth Foundation and World Bank and carried out a personal project in my community where I worked with a team, recruited and train young adults to be change agents. I realized there were a lot of people who believed in me, who cheered me on and others who looked up to me. It was both humbling and empowering to know this at a young age and prevented me from giving up in different situations.