Mariam Oluwadamilola Oloko, the best graduating student of the Achievers University, Owo in Ondo State, for the 2020/2021 academic session, said her father did not expect an outstanding performance from her. On the contrary, he thought she was sleeping around with men on campus.
The 21-year-old led the 339 graduands of the university with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.80 in International Relations at the 10th convocation last week.
In an interview with reporters in Owo, Oloko said she did not make her father proud during her primary and secondary school days as she did not take her studies serious. However, her father took education seriously. And though he was not lettered, he believed his daughters should train to university level.
“My Dad did not go to school but he likes education. For his daughters you must stop at the university. During my primary and secondary school, I did not take learning seriously. I did not make my daddy happy. I was an average student because I wanted to be an average student. It was just ‘why do I have to stress myself?’ It was just pass and go. It was just like let me pass and go.
“In the university, my dad thought I was sleeping around. He thought I was scamming him but my mum tried a lot to raise money for me. My daddy is paranoid and protective. He has the belief that guys always come around women. That was why he thought I was sleeping around. He thought I came here to waste my life and I hope I have proved him wrong.
“Daddy will not give you money to buy clothes. He will just turn his head but he gave me good money for my convocation which means he was happy,” she said.
Oloko has one of her lecturers, Mr. Oyindamola Oyewole, to thank for her good performance. She said he saw the potential in her and encouraged her to study hard and earn good grades.
To make good grades, the Ogun State-born graduate said she focused on her studies and never went partying or had boyfriends on campus because she hated distractions.
She said: “I never went partying. I did not go to club in my four years stay. It was just my books. My friends will go out but I will always stay back. I only go out to buy chicken and chips. I don’t go to parties and do not have time to date guys. I am not saying you cannot do both but I don’t like distractions. I like to stay focused. It was not easy turning down guys but now the boys can come.”
Now that she has graduated, Oloko has his eyes set on postgraduate studies. But she hopes to get scholarship to study abroad.
“I wish to get a scholarship to study for my masters and doctorate abroad then come back to impart knowledge. If the scholarship did not come then it is left for my dad to decide because I cannot raise money myself. I am tired of stressing my mum,” she said.

By Osagie Otabor