Being A Nigerian University Student.

What is life and growth if there's nothing to learn, part of what we can never escape or run from is learning. Learning is part of what adds beauty and essence to living. Some would say "you stopped living (or growing) once you stop learning".

From when our brains became fully developed till date, we keep learning in every aspects of life. We either learn by interest, necessity or by force (no choice). Academics was a necessity, career most times is by interest or choice, while some basic things like morals, culture and traditions were learnt because we had to.

One of the things I learnt really hard was how to be a student, not just that but how to stay sane and alive, also see the end of university. It's a mixture of said and unsaid experiences, explainable and the ones that can't be explained, rather left to be experienced.

Being a student of a university in Nigeria is so different. The curriculum and what's being taught is another story for another day. Can you imagine lecturers being too harsh or unreasonable at times only because it was hard during their own time, they want us to have it as hard as it was for them then. Why?

I had to learn how to survive each day and keeping my head sane. The fact that you can't enter the school without spending is shocking, also you can enter the school only to spend the whole of your money in one day. There was always something to buy, something to pay for, something to print. You can't survive school without having money and students will always find a way around it. I spent the most money during my final year, I know it's over a million though, from project fee to going to schoo farm everyday to feeding and transportation asides all other necessary things to pay for. (Please don't let this scare you from going to a university though).

I had to learn how to always get money for subscription. Information in my school fly online and you can regret being offline at times, could cost you a lot. There were days when emergency tests were written, days when classes were canceled, days when lectures was postponed for some reasons. Not being online could be dangerous.

Not having enough time for oneself is another thing. Lecture starts by 9am and ends by 6pm everyday except for some Wednesdays and Friday lecture ends by 1pm. I'd get home and the only thing I want to do is sleep not even to eat at times because I get so tired when I get home. Having less than 5 hours of day light to oneself reduces productivity in other areas. The activity involving academics during both school hours and non school hours doesn't leave enough time to get other things done.

Oh one of the hard part was preparing for examinations. I mean, that period when I have to stay awake all night for abiut two weeks, so I will have enough answers to write and pass all exams. Many people fall sick during examination because of how stressful the week will be. Struggling to get cab into the school is a tug of war, the queue is always too long. The number of students are about 20 times the numbers of cabs and tricycle combined. I learnt how to fight to get a space in a can or tricycle each time there is a crowd of students. Now I can rest from all that and even spending about 3,000+ naira to school every week. There were days I had to trek from school gate to where ever I was going to inside school. It's about 30 minutes journey from school gate to the car park.

I survived the seeming threats from lecturers wanting us to do things their own way, bragging about how hard the course they take is, how and why they would not give any students extra mark to pass. I am done with deadlines and submission of assignments.

Learnt how to handle people, working with strangers, teaming up with people with different mindset, connected with lots of great minds and talents.

In all, school taught me how to be resilient, determined, responsible for everything concerning me and academics, fend for myself. I learnt a lot without a manual handed over to me, some lessons are best to be experienced not explained. I made many mistakes but I've got more achievements, lessons, exposure and ideas. I am grateful to God that finished well. There's a lot to be said about university but..... Not in this post.