A lecturer in the Department of European Languages and Integration Studies at the University of Lagos, Dr Adewale Tiamiyu, has recalled how he flatly failed the first time he sat for the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination in 1987.
He got what is called F9 parallel, meaning he secured F9 in all the subjects he sat for.
The reason, he said bordered on lack of seriousness and lack of focus as he had 18 girlfriends at the time, while he was also break dancing.
Tiamiyu’s story, is however, a study in superlative victory over failure as he later bagged a first class at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
In an interview in ‘Saturday PUNCH’, he noted on the time he recorded the failure: “Then, I was too social and had about 18 girlfriends in almost all Ibadan schools. In those days, we always went to different schools for inter-house sports and I would want to have at least one girlfriend in any school we visited. I am talking of the 80s now. So, I think it was my social life. It was later in life that I understood that I was not a dullard since I had a First Class in OAU years later. I used to think I was a dullard, but my academic achievement in Ife made me believe I was not. I was just not serious during my secondary school days.
“I felt it was over and it was not possible to go back to school. But I still tried. At that time, it was my social life that affected me. I used to be a break dancer. I also marched for my school: Adelagun Memorial Grammar School in Ibadan, Oyo State. But at the end of it all, I went to check my result and it was F9 parallel. So I lost hope. Though I later sat for the GCE exam, it wasn’t successful, because I did not have the English language. I tried the examination twice and I had E8 in the language. So I abandoned education in 1990. Between 1990 to 1995, I was in Cote d’Ivoire as a meat seller. So I travelled out of the country. However, I returned in 1995 to Lagos and registered for GCE lessons. At the same time, I worked as a primary school teacher in Surulere. So I prepared to go back to school between 1995 and 1997. I made my GCE in 1996 and got admitted into Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife in 1997.”
