‘ I Sold Puff-puff for Survival,’ UDUS First Class Graduate Shares Survival Story

By Hussain Wahab

Moshood Muraina, a recent graduate from Usmanu Danfodiyo University and an indigene of Saki, Oyo, has been confirmed as the best and only first-class graduate in the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Life Science for the 2020/2021 academic session.

Moshood, 28, who bagged the feat with Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.56, graduated from secondary school in 2012.

He was very ecstatic, hoping to study Medicine and Surgery and become a medical doctor six to seven years later. As fate would have it, he waited for 5 years before Biochemistry could fill the vacuum with 283 in JAMB results.

“The cut-off mark for medicine in that year was 290, so, when admission came out, I was offered biochemistry and I was fine with it. At least, I got into the university after waiting for 5 years,” said Moshood.

Confused Admission Flashes Fool’s Paradise

Mashood was a 100-level student, studying Biochemistry when UDUS offered him a medical course with a 375 he had had in the school of Matric. However, he never envisaged that it was a fool’s paradise as it was not recognised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

“Hope for a medical course came to life when I got another admission, Medical Laboratory Science(MLS), through my 375 scores in matrics. I was very happy. One day, I was in the department when a directive came from JAMB to cancel all admissions that were not through the body, and that was how I lost the MLS, I cried my eyes out,” he narrated.

‘I Sold Puff-Puff for Survival’

Like millions of Nigerian students who come from poor or middle-class homes, Moshood had to venture into dough-making business with the assistance of his senior colleague to support himself and his retired teacher-father who could not provide all at the time.

“My first year was the toughest. At the time, my parents were the only support system I had. My dad is a retired teacher, and my Mum is a tailor. I had to support myself with a puff-puff business but ended up having 4.07-grade points,” said Moshood.

Helping my Coursemates Helps

Speaking with the NewsDigestPress, Moshood said it was not easy for him to make first class because there were distractions but helping his coursemates made the concepts more clearer.

“I love helping my colleagues to understand difficult concepts and that helped me a lot because while explaining multiple times I understand better.

All my friends are people who strived to achieve excellent results, so we taught ourselves throughout. Above all, as I’ve said earlier, it’s Allah’s will that manifests,” he commented.

He, however, encouraged other students to choose their hard work wisely and know what works for them.

“Striving to have an excellent result is hard, but failure is not easy either. So, choose your hard but wisely. Know what works for you and keep doing it. Make up for your wasted time. That way, it won’t be as hard as it seems,” he advised.