19-Year-Old Emerges Covenant University’s Best Graduate

The atmosphere at the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, was full of excitement last Friday as the institution marked its 7th convocation. The hero of the day was a 19-year-old Wukeh Egem-Odey, who obtained a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.89 out of a possible 5.0 to emerge the best graduating student, MOTUNRAYO ABODERIN highlights how he achieved the feat

He is just 19 years old but already has a number of titles attached to his name. He is a business man, distributor, motivator and above all Covenant University’s best graduating student.

As Wukeh Egem-Odey, read out his valedictory speech, the crowd could not help but cheer the young man, who beat 1, 338 other graduating students of CU. He scored a CGPA of 4.89 out of a possible 5.0 to bag a first class degree in accountancy.

Describing his certificate as just his ‘NAFDAC number’ and his choice to sacrifice ‘ambition on the altar of a vision’, Egem-Odey who hails from Cross River State said people had just seen a tip of what he could do. He added that as long as God is on his side, he has much more feats to accomplish.

However, Egem-Odey who is the third child in a family of five, said his journey to success was definitely not a ride in the park. He stated that the award as the best graduating student was just a confirmation that “God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.”

He said, “Life wasn’t so rosy for me. Throughout my four years in university, I battled with a series of health challenges. I was regarded as just one of the average students. Nobody considered me for this award because I was always sick and on drugs. That I’m alive today is God’s grace.

“When I got into CU, I had the determination to excel, but I was not so interested in being the best. I just wanted to get to school, have impact on many lives, excel in my studies and make a difference. I saw the need to make people succeed in life as being more important than anything else.”

Speaking on his days in the university, Egem-Odey said he was business and academic conscious.

“I’ve always been business conscious. I don’t believe in working for anyone. In my university days, I started a company with two friends. I’m also a distributor of Forever Living products. I don’t believe in sitting and waiting for the government or my parents to give me money.”

Despite his youthful desire to enjoy life, Egem-Odey said he didn’t let it distract his studies. “Life is all about balance. I had to find a balance. Being a youth, the temptation to want to enjoy life was very strong. There were times I wanted to have fun, being a youth, but I tried to remain focused.”

Speaking on his reason for choosing to study Accountancy, Egem-Odey said it was one course that is business-driven.

“I specifically chose to study Accounting because it’s the language of business. And business is one language you can use to make a lot of impact without being a politician. I thought, if I study any course, it must be business-related,” he said.

Egem-Odey did not withhold expressing his views on the Boko Haram issue in the country. “Taking a look at the country before this whole issue started and our former Presidents, there wasn’t this much chaos such as what we have now. But ever since President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office, Boko Haram started and it is growing very big. I think this people are more than just a group of people who are against Western education.

“It’s sad to say, but I think we need military force to confront this group because it is a fierce group. We also need to outsource security, the American government has dealt with terrorism, we need to employ intelligence to tame this group of people. We need intelligence and military force. We should take it upon ourselves to eradicate this group.”

Culled from PUNCH