Hard Work & Prayer Was Key Says Plumber’s Son Who Emerged FUTA’s Best Graduating Student

I know I can be what I wanna be, if I work hard at it, I’ll be where I wanna be – those are lyrics from the inspirational classic, ‘I Can’ by American rap legend, Nas, off the ‘God’s Son’ album.

Nurudeen Adegoke

Twenty-six-year-old Mr. Nurudeen Adegoke, who is the son of a plumber father and trader mother in Iseyin, Oyo State, must have listened to that song over and over again till it became his guiding principle as he emerged the overall best graduating student at the 24th convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, on Saturday.
Adegoke, who read Mathematics, glittered like gold at the occasion as he won other accolades and had to shake hands on different occasions with special guests and other principal officers of the university as he received his prizes.
Adegoke who revealed that the road to his success was rough and challenging, however said he had to put in personal efforts to get himself through his degree programme at FUTA.
He said, “I really worked very hard. No unserious student can survive the rigour at the Mathematical Science department from where I graduated. I was very prayerful too.
“Right from my first day in FUTA, I was determined, focused and diligent. I was humble too because humility is very essential in anything one is doing.
“I was at the Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, for my Ordinary National Diploma in Statistics. I got direct admission to FUTA, doing everything on my own.
“My dad is a plumber while my mother is a petty trader. I am really from a humble background. Being the first child of my family, I made up my mind to be serious and hardworking so that I could help my parents in taking care of the academic needs of my younger ones.
“I always had it at the back of my mind that I must pass very well if I really wanted my certificate to be useful to me and I was always prayerful and focused.
“I used to get involved in tutorials. I didn’t play with my academics. I am not sure I had any social life because I didn’t want any form of distraction,” Adegoke submitted.
He advised students to face their academics instead of engaging in activities that would not add value to their main reason of being in the university in the first instance.