Part 1: Don’t Blame Anyone If You Don’t Succeed in Life -By Tife Owolabi

Did you know I could be the first in my lineage to earn a PhD, despite not going beyond primary school at the beginning of my educational journey?

After primary school, my parents sent me to learn a “handwork” — mechanic work, as we called it in local parlance — because of financial constraints. My father had too many responsibilities and was trying to reduce the burden on the family.

I obeyed for a while. But I eventually ran away from home.

I found myself sleeping under bridges and working as a bus conductor.

One day, I decided to return home.

I started working as a photographer, earning my own money, and hired a teacher to tutor me privately. I eventually returned to the classroom and began rebuilding my education from where I had stopped.

I did evening classes for the first two years after primary school, but later abandoned my studies. In 1996, I returned to the classroom with intensive coaching.

Because of my circumstances at the time, I could not obtain all the subjects I needed in one sitting. I eventually made up the required subjects across three GCE sittings.

But I was never comfortable with the combined results.

So, in 1999, I sat for the examination again and obtained the result I have continued to use — from a single sitting.

In 2000, I began my higher education at Lagos Polytechnic and graduated in 2003.

Then came another long pause.

I did not return to university for a degree until 2012. But from that point, my education became continuous and back-to-back:

BSc in Public Administration.
PGD in Mass Communication.
MSc in Political Science.
And finally, a PhD.

Looking back, the journey was anything but straightforward.

But it taught me something important:

Your starting point does not have to determine your finishing point.

I am sharing this story because many of us grew up with explanations for failure that go beyond ourselves.

As Africans — and, in my case, as a Yoruba — we sometimes describe persistent failure as “ogun idile”, a family battle, sometimes attributed to witches and wizards.

I am not here to argue about whether such forces exist.

But I know this:

God, determination, discipline and perseverance can change the trajectory of a life.

I started from a place where education was interrupted by circumstances beyond my control.

I slept under bridges.

I worked as a bus conductor.

I became a photographer.

I went back to school.

I failed, tried again, and kept moving.

Today, that journey has brought me to the final destination:

I am officially a PhD holder.

It has been a long, difficult and unconventional journey.

But through it all, God has been faithful.

Oluwa Is Involved.

And that is the meaning behind my full name, Tife Oluwa — For God’s sake / God is involved.

Happy Sunday, everyone.

Tife Owolabi, PhD, Anipr
Journalist
Niger Delta
07018869888
@tifeowolabi