Background and life experiences

I’m bright, a young man from a poor family. I’v had to struggle for almost everything I want or
need. And matters got worse when my dad and mum separated till today. Then I was about 11
years of age.
Starting from my primary school days, I have always among the debtors, last to pay school fees
and last to pay 1 naira or 50 kobo then, for food money and as a result of this I was subjected to
harsh treatment and punishment at school. Also till senior secondary level, I still owed school
fees till SS3 that I was delay from writing geography exams WAEC and I ill that day. During my
undergraduate days, the last school fees I paid problem-free, was level 100 (first year),
subsequent years, I’v had to pay myself or beg one professor (Now dead). I’m grateful to God
now that things are quite better now.

Social/cultural
I’m a christian, and from the west, the Yoruba tribe. But I don’t engage much in social activities,
I often spend much time studying, especially engineering related materials or ICT materials. To
boost my ken so I could use these to earn a living during school days and after graduation.

Motivation to pursue graduate degree

It’s often said that most children from poor or rough background often excel academically at
school. Well this is very true in my case.
I have been this creative person I repair stuffs when I was very small and I grew to have a
passion for technology to the point that I often trek to an electronic repair shop to observe the
work and an to run errands purchasing integrated circuits for replacing damaged electronic
components.
During my primary school days, I’m among the best student in class in terms of academic
excellence to an extent that I often write notes on behalf of my teachers on the chalk board for
the pupil in my class by climbing a wooden bench at that very tender age. I could remember one
of my teacher Mr Omokpo, I often use his name as “favorite teacher” when answering security
questions I often write notes for him.
Junior secondary, I always came first in class, I have no single “B” in my result till JSS 3, when I
was no longer regular at school, then I was processing a transfer admission from lagos state to
Ilorin kwara state, where I continued my senior secondary education and also tertiary education
as mechanical engineer. I was also among the best in my class during senior secondary school.
At the university, though I wasn’t much outgoing person, I was popular because I took tutorials
for my colleagues also I often provided solutions to past questions from my 3rd year to 5th
year/final year at school. Students from my department and other departments relied so much on
my solution to an extent that for some, even if I made a mistake in the solution they often
repeated the same mistake i.e. if the same question is repeated at exam. I was nick named
“solution manual” and “soft copy”.
I undertook an inventive final year project at school and did that project alone without any
support from my project supervisor and was able to design a solar powered cooker, with the
ability to store thermal energy, for use in cooking. I built a large concave reflector for charging
that device.

I want to be a practical engineer, not a theoretical one, so I can have ken to handle other projects
I have in mind - like “the magnetic generator using engine configuration”. And I’ll be very
grateful if considered for this Graduate scholarship in order to gain more practical experience to
make the world and my country a better place.