University of Lagos 'Take education serious, make your parents proud, 1st class graduate tells Nigerian students

Korede Akinpelumi, the best-graduating student ofUniversity of Lagos(UNILAG) in the 2014/2015 session, has advised Nigerian students to take their education serious in honor of their parents.
Speaking in an interview withDaily Trust, the 21-year-old said studying is tough but inevitable.

"I know we don’t like reading," Akinpelumi said.
"It is good to appreciate the efforts of our guardians and parents by way of paying our school fees and taking care of us.

"The onus is on us, students, to make them proud always by taking our education serious because we are the future."
He graduated with 4.96 CGPA, earning a First class degree in chemical engineering.
Akinpelumi said achieving such a remarkable grade was not easy, even though he "came in through a diploma foundation programme" which prepared him for full degree studies.
"In my second year, both first and second semesters, I had A grades. Just after my second year, I was on a CGPA of 5.0," he said.
"I guess that was how it started and somehow, people knew that I was going to make it."
"So, overall, it’s been tough and challenging but tougher maintaining the first class than even attaining it."
Even the loss of his father in his final year, a period he described as "tough and trying", did not stop him.
"The emotional trauma I faced at that period because my dad was my source of inspiration and motivation toward my academic success.
The chemical engineer attended UNILAGInternational Secondary Schoolwhere he also finished as the best-graduating student with 8 A grades in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASCE).

Akinpelumi, who is about to proceed on the mandatoryNational Youth Service Corps(NYSC) scheme is now weighing his choices, between pursuing a masters and PhD or taking up a chemical engineering career in the oil and gas sector