Holy Crap!...I will soon have a 3rd degree

I began this year stating I will blog my heart out.. Well, July is the seventh month and I have only posted 4 shabby write-ups.

I will call them shabby because re-reading them, I wanted to throw my laptop out.

Um, who starts a juicy story in January and abandons it when the story gets sweet??? Who does that???

That is a shabby way of blogging, so no wonder my fan base hasn't hit 1000 after 5 years because I am as guilty of abandonment as I am guilty of shabbiness. He he...lol.. Lock me up and throw away the keys but while you are at it, follow me up on https://www.facebook.com/dadadupeola/ and maybe, just maybe I might hit 1000 followers

Honestly tho, I had this year  planned out. Run my business, blog every month, write a book quarterly... Bla! Bla! Bla!... I thought I had the whole year figured out until BAM! I get admitted into a PHD programme this January and not only did I have to move, I had to gather funds to pursue this dream of mine that started 4 years ago.

In 2014, I had my graduation ceremony after the successful completion of my second degree I started in 2012. That same year, I picked up a form for a 3rd degree hopeful to continue what I had started. I wasn't unemployed, so it was not like I had nothing to do with my time but I enjoyed research. As boring as it might sound, I enjoyed searching for a problem, finding the problem and analyzing different ways to solving the problem. After the analyses, I will have figured out the best way to solve the problem and then solve the goddam problem!

It sounded sooo easy in my head and by God's grace my Master degree was child's play so I wanted to challenge myself further and applied for a Doctorate degree in July 2014.

I purchased the form for 22,500naira and thought I was on my way to getting the degree until they told me that I had to first come up with a proposal. Wait... What?

Nobody told me I needed a proposal before starting a PhD. Nobody ever tells me anything important anyway, so I wasn't surprised. I took  one year to come up with a proposal and in 2015... Hold up, 365 days to come up with a proposal?? Am I that dumb???... First of all, finding a problem takes time...Besides, I wasn't in a hurry...Okay, maybe I was dumbing down my research skills a little... Anyway, In 2015 I was back to the university with my proposal but the form I had purchased had expired so I had to buy another for 22,500naira.

I was working at the time so, big deal... I bought another form... 45,000 naira in 1 year on forms alone....

I had the proposal, had my form in hand and applied again for the PhD program.

Why was I so adamant on starting this program? I do not know till date. The only thing I can say is that once I make my mind up to do something, I will literally not rest. So the pursuit for a PhD degree became more like a tick off my to-do-list than having "PhD" written behind my name...

FYI,  one day I will write on my to-do-list...You will flip when you see what's on my list, even I flip most times when I see it...lol

Moving on, I didn't get the admission until 2016. Why? Well, so many stories that touch between my supervisor and I on my proposal. We went back and forth trying to get the best proposal until I finally came up with something nice. I submitted to the department and it was approved. Yaay!

Unfortunately, I didn't get officially admitted into the University of Lagos for a doctorate degree until July 2017.

Sigh, remember this journey started in 2014.

 Three years is the normal duration of a PhD program but I was using the 3 years in getting the admission. I said, I was working and earning money the whole time so big deal!.

Finally, the admission meant the program was to start in July 2017 but my admission said the session was 2016/2017 not 2017/2018. Let me break this for you so you understand this, what the session 2016/2017 meant is that as at July 2017 when my admission letter is issued, I was 7 months behind in my first year.

That wasn't the only heartbreak I experienced, to crown it, they gave me the bill for my tuition, accommodation and research budget. The figure made me fall sick for 1 week.

Where was I going to raise that money????

Do not even remind me I was working... Do not!

It was a huge deal!!!

Yes, I was working, but no I wasn't earning millions or saving the whole bloody salary.

I couldn't afford the program. Except I rob a bank and that wasn't even a choice.

Sigh...

So, I went to my supervisor with my tail in my mouth and told him how poor I was. It was a sad story. Even I wept for me and how my retired parents cannot... will not... pay for such rubbish.

I was expecting my supervisor to call someone who will throw me out as garbage from his office but...

To God be the glory, God's grace was upon me that day and i got unmerited favour. My supervisor looked at me strong and hard and told me how stupid I was.

"You started this journey 4years ago and didn't think of your finances?" he said. "Do you know you came out with a distinction?" he continued

Wait..what???


Going back 2014 after my graduation ceremony all i requested for was my certificate. It did not occur to me to check my CGPA, I was just glad the program was over and I was graduating.

" No sir". I replied coming with my thoughts back from the year 2014
" Well, after I received your admission they sent your transcript to the department and I saw you came out with a distinction. This means you can get scholarships abroad" . My supervisor said smiling.

Abroad??

The abroad??

Enter-a-plane-and-leave-the-country, abroad??

There is no Nigerian who has hustled the way I have and hear the word "abroad" and not light up because foreign money is the best dibs.

I wiped my tears at the possibilities of leaving the country... The earth was yielding its increase for me.

Psalm 67: 6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, my God, shall bless me.

While in my supervisor's office, he makes a call and informs the person at the other end that he had a student whom he will like to refer to for a doctorate degree. He gets off the phone informing me that I had a supervisor and all i had to do was get money to migrate.

Money to migrate ke?? Well, how i gathered the money is story for another day...

Just like that! Tuition, accommodation and research budget was all free of charge.

Just like that!

I will never forget leaving his office filled with new hope of having something else to tick off my to-do-list....

The rest they say, was history.


Crap...I am on my way to having a 3rd degree #ThankYouJesus