25-year-old bags PhD in Babcock

The 10th convocation of Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State and the inauguration of the institution’s Medical School came to a glorious end on Sunday with a 25-year-old lady and a 20 year-old man setting academic records in the institution, SEGUN OLUGBILE reports
They are two of a kind. They are young and imbued with the spirit of excellence. One is 25 years while the other is just 20 years old. The two, Opeyemi Sodipe and Oladeinbo Gilbert set new records during the 10th convocation of the Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State on Sunday. While Sodipe became the first graduate of Babcock to bag a PhD at 25, Oladeinbo emerged the all-time best graduating student of the institution after scoring a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.92 out of a possible 5.0. Sodipe bagged a PhD in Business Information while Oladeinbo got a degree in Law.
Their stories, as they narrated them to our correspondent after they received their awards, were as moving as they were motivational. Sodipe who was accompanied to the convocation ground by her parents had a bad academic start. She was a dullard until an incident changed this when she was in JSS3 at King’s International School, Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Segun Olugbile

Oladeinbo Gilbert

“I cannot describe myself as an average student when I was in primary and junior secondary school. I was a dullard. But this changed when our literature teacher in JSS 3 gave us a test and I failed woefully. The infuriated teacher while distributing our scripts just threw my own at my face and abused me. She called me olodo (an academic non-performer) and I was greatly embarrassed in front of my classmates. I wept till I reached home,” she stated.
On getting home, she told her mother about the ‘perceived insult,’ unleashed on her by her teacher. But thinking that her mother would sympathise with her, she scolded her too.
“She later encouraged me to buckle up. She said my teacher’s action should be seen as a wake-up call. I took the advice and prayed to God to give me wisdom that night and everything changed when I got to SS1. I always emerged as one of the best in my class till I left the school in 2002,” she said.
Since then, the Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State-born lady, has not looked back. She gained admission to BU in September 2002 and graduated in 2006 as the best graduating student in her class.
“None of us made first class in my class that year but I made a strong second class upper with a CGPA of 4.4 to bag a degree in Information Science,” she added.
From there, Sodipe proceeded to the University of Ibadan for her Master’s degree in Information Science. At UI, she did well as she emerged the second best graduating student with a score of 69 in 2010. The best graduating student in her class then made 69.9.
“I enrolled for the Master’s degree at UI after the completion of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State,’’ she added.
Asked what her future ambition was, the third in a family of four said, she would love to become a professor. “I love teaching just like my mother. Even some of my classmates during my undergraduate days recognised this talent in me as they always referred to me as a professor,” she said.
Luckily for her, the university has a scheme where first class graduates of the institution are encouraged to take up teaching. Sodipe has been offered a job as an assistant lecturer in the university.