By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
Fortune has literally smiled on Miss Adetutu Blessing Osoba, from Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area, near Badagry in Ogun state, who obtained an aggregate score of 309 in the just concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), as Mallam Kamorudeen Yusuf, the Personal Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, has promised to help her further her studies.
The young scholar, who is the first of three children in a family of five, came to the limelight in her neighbourhood, a boundary between Badagry and Ogun state, following her outstanding academic performance amongst her other contemporaries.
From available information, Mr Yusuf, who heard of her feat and was personally inspired by her devotion to studies and sacrifices, all in a bid to achieve her goal has pledged to see her through the university.
Besides offering her a scholarship, Mr Yusuf also paid for hostel and school fees in a popular fashion academy in Lagos as it’s her dream to polish her tailoring skills before admission.
The young Osoba, who turns 17 years in two months, had sat for the UTME last year scoring 265, after acing all her subjects at the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination but narrowly missed her admission to the University of Lagos to study for a B.Sc in Business Administration.
Determined to earn a place in UniLag this year by all means Adetutu decided to apply herself completely in her studies.
According to her, “firstly, God did it and secondly, I was self-motivated to do more this year because UniLag did not give me admission last year. So that kind of motivated me to do more this time.”
Obviously overwhelmed with joy, Adetutu said she never expected the recognition and the rewards that have been coming her way on account of her sterling academic performance.
“It was very, very unexpected because being in this part of the world, where no one remembers people without the right connections and influence, to be in the limelight is so very wonderful,” she mused excitedly.
“We’re really grateful for the kind gestures shown by my benefactor, Mr Yusuf, who has promised to sponsor my education and I want to assure him that he’s not going to regret it because I’m going to make him proud and proud and proud forever and ever,” said an elated Adetutu.
On her success nuggets, she advised other young people out there to work, plan, and pray and also believe in themselves. “You should know that you can always do better. Nothing is impossible for you.”
Expectedly, her parents are indeed proud of her for bringing them to the limelight, especially for the kind gestures of the public-spirited Nigerian who has pledged to fund her studies in the university.
In a chat with our correspondent, Mrs Temitope Osoba, who is a petty trader, expressed profound gratitude to God for crowning her daughter’s efforts with a resounding success.
On what it feels like as a parent knowing that their daughter’s academic performance has also drawn the attention of a very important personality, who has decided to sponsor her studies, Mrs Osoba was overly excited.
“In fact, we’re very proud of her. We are very happy indeed. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our sight. We also appreciate Mr Yusuf for his kind gestures. We appreciate and we love him more. We pray for him that God should grant him all his heart’s desires and may God continue to bless him. We truly appreciate him,” said Mrs Osoba.
In a related development, Yusuf had last week awarded a scholarship to Sodiq Shoyode, a 16-year-old who scored 360 in the recent UTME, and also from Ado Odo Ota in Ogun state.
Sodiq’s achievement went viral on social media, drawing widespread commendations.
The president’s aide had received the news of Sodiq’s high performance and awarded him scholarship and equally funded his admission into one of the top digital academies to learn Full Stack Development before his admission with his school fees and accommodation taken care of as well.
Yusuf had recently awarded N10m scholarships to some students in Lagos State, as part of his lifelong commitment to support the less privileged to help them achieve their potentials in spite of their poor stations in life.
