The overall best graduating student of the Lagos State University, Mrs. Elizabeth Orefuwa, was delivered of a baby girl barely a day after her convocation ceremony. The 29-year-old graduated with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.74 at the university’s 21st convocation held on Wednesday, March 22.
The new mother said she felt the contraction just before the convocation and was scared if the baby would deny her the opportunity of participating in the graduation.
“I was having contraction and was scared that the baby might come before the convocation. I told God to take control because I wanted to experience the convocation and God took control until I got home. It was when I got home that it started again and my husband took me to the hospital where I gave birth at about 1. 00 p.m. on Thursday,’’ Orefuwa said.As earlier reported by LIB, the Accounting graduate revealed that she wrote the Unified Tertiary Matriculation (UTME) 7 times before gaining admission into the university in 2012.
“I also applied for direct entry three times at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. During this period of waiting, I started professional career at the Institute of Chartered Accountancy of Nigeria (ICAN) in 2007 and became qualified as an Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) in 2010,” she said.
She however did not relent in her efforts to acquire a university education because she was determined and her father also motivated her.
“My aim is to get my first degree certificate after several years of waiting and to satisfy my dad, who has been insisting on academic certificate before professional certificate. He would always say to me then that I have put the cart before the horse. However, what kept me going was self-belief, focus and determination bearing in mind that I am not competing with others but with my own capabilities.”
She got married in her final year in 2015.
Congratulations!