When preparation leads to perfection

Twenty nine year-old Ayodele Dada has created a new record at the University of Lagos as he last week graduated with the highest cumulative grade point average obtainable in the university, 5.00. The grade was described by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Rahamon Bello, as ““a perfect score.”” The Ekiti-born Ayodele, who is a Psychology graduate definitely emerged as the overall best graduating student out of the 10,097 students that graduated from the school. Thus at the graduation ceremony last Tuesday all eyes were on him as he was called several times to receive different awards . The awards that he received include, the vice-chancellor’’s prize for the overall best student, best all round performance at the faculty level, University of Lagos Parent Forum prize, Tony Elumelu prize for best graduating student, Late Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe prize and Dean’’s prize for the best overall student in the faculty, among others. He was also awarded the University of Lagos Alumni Association prize and received N500,000 cheque, fivefold of what originally is meant for the recipient of the award. The gesture according to the alumni association’’s president, Dr. Sonny Kuku was because of the record he has set in the university. Kuku also explained that the money was also meant for the five years he has spent in the university. On how he achieved the feat of gotten the maximum grade for the first time in the institution’’s history , Dada in a media interview said scoring ‘‘As’’ is about preparation. “

“Preparation, for me, isn’’t just about studying. It involves understanding the personality of the examiner, the culture of a department and other variables, which others may consider ancillary to the matter of academics. I favour the quote by the Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu (4th century BC), who believed that the victorious general is already victorious before the battle while the defeated general enters battle and struggles to find the victory. When you prepare well, you win before the battle. ““I consider an examination as an opportunity to sell myself as a product, to my lecturer/examiner who can be seen as a consumer. If your product is not unique and doesn’’t add value to the consumer, they don’’t buy it. For me, they buy my product when I get an ‘‘A’’. He explained that the key thing is understanding the consumer ““Listen to everything they say even when they don’’t realize they are communicating. Add something they care about to what you offer.

It’’s quite simple because the lecturers actually give clues when they speak. Regrettably, most students are distracted and engage in side chats. As such, they don’’t learn the clues they need. As to whether he planned to score 5.00 Cumulative points from the time he set his foot on the institution’’s soil, he said I did not plan for a 5.0. His words: ““I just wanted to do each test, assignment, presentation and exam 11 very well. All I cared about was doing well each day. By getting it right and pushing the boundaries each time, I wanted people to see psychology differently. To see it as something we can use every day to solve problems. Psychology is not well understood or recognized in Nigeria and I thought it was possible to change that. We only discover how real ““impossibility ”” is when we test its resolve, when we challenge its will to survive. Ayodele Dada who was born to an accountant turned Pastor, David Dada and Mrs. Anneyemi Dada, a teacher, had his primary education at Agape Baptist College, Surulere and his secondary education at Hopebay College also in Surulere but did not proceed to the university immediately due to some reasons. .

““After secondary school, it took me a while to decide on what I wanted to do but eventually, I read a book that just made me see how psychology can be applied in real life so it just captured my imagination and I decided that I was going to devote my time to Psychology. ““Yes it was difficult at first for example, when I decided I was going to do Psychology, I spent three months preparing for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and I really studied hard for it and I wrote the examination, confident that I did well only to hear later that my result was seized, I was devastated. ““That was in the year 2011.

They said I cheated or so. I felt sad but I took it as fate. I initially wanted to go through the complaining procedure but it didn’’t really work out because it was taking too long. I really wanted to resume as quickly as I could and then that was when I took the Diploma option, the foundation programme. That was how I came into UNILAG. ““It was challenging because of the expenses, I worked a bit with my uncle. I did a bit of sales job selling computer accessories for some time. I also did some tutoring, I was teaching some people trying to at least make ends meet for myself and I didn’’t stop that even when I started my programme at UNILAG. “

“I was responsible for my daily expenses except one or two occasions. I had to plan my time such that it would not affect my study. I tutored just to survive. Before I was able to get on board the foundation programme, I had to get money from several sources. There were quite a few family friends who were very helpful, they really came in and stood in for me because I could not take the bill myself. I was ready to borrow this money because I was sure that once I was done with this programme, I would pay them back. Ayodele, who has the ambition of getting a Doctorate degree and become a professor of Psychology, said he is determined to help improve the education system of the country. His mother, a teacher with 23 years of experience said although her son was a slow learner, he would never settle for less. The vice-chancellor of the university, Prof. Rahamon Bello elated with Dada’’s performance said the university will continue to maintain the tradition of excellence and of producing quality graduates that do compete with their counterparts all over the world.