Grass To Grace: Ordinary Mechanic Who Become A First Class Graduate.
The story of Aina Ibukunoluwa Samuel a First Class graduate of Mechanical Enginnering in the University of Lagos is one that caught my attention and has a core lesson for everyone of us.
Coming from a poor back ground Aina was unable to meet the financial demands of registering for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) which made him to drop out of school at the age of 16 and became an apprentice in a mechanic workshop.
Since there was nothing anybody in the family could do, not even to get him a GCE form that would cost no more than ₦3000.
However not deterred by circumstances surrounding him, Aina was constantly keeping his dream and hope of going back to school alive all through his two years as an apprentice in the mechanic workshop.
It was while still an apprentice in the mechanic workshop according to him that he sought the light of heaven. He came to the understanding that except the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain that builds it.
His situation brought him to this conclusion: it is not every poor man on the street that has been lazy, not every student that gets poor grades is dull; time and chance dictate the turn of life.
At last his cry for help was heard in heaven and an answer came in few weeks. A benefactor, whom he didn’t want to mention publicly, got him the GCE form, and he ended up clearing all his papers.
How he was able to achieve good grades in all the papers still remained a mystery to his natural senses.
“I understand now, that though one must work, yet work alone does not account for success; a life without God whatever might be its attainment, is headed for crisis. I got more committed and devoted to God, and in the space of a month, God raised a helper to whom I shall remain indelibly grateful and strongly do believe that God’s grace would never run dry in her life. I took my GCE exams, made my papers in one sitting, though not without the fierce trial of my faith,” He said.
He recalled being giving sixty questions in mathematics and was only able to solve 18 instead of succumbing to exam malpractice he kept his Godly integrity and ended up with an “A” in that subject as well as the others, took UTME exams shortly and had 296/400.
This gave him admission in two prestigious Universities; UNILAG and FUTA without any “long legs” or “Who you know” personality anywhere but God.
Even on campus his life was sold out for God though he was again tested by life on campus. But he always remembered that his admission was not ordinary and to come out successful he must cling to the source of the admission.
Today he is a first Class Graduate of University of Lagos, Department of Mechanical Engineering. He was listed among the 89 graduating students that finished in First Class Division for the 2012/2013 session. He had a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.71.
His story should leave this lesson for everyone especially the students that it is not of he that wills or he that runs but God that shows mercy.
