If you’re studying at a public Nigerian university, you won’t find news about ASUU strikes like this strange.

We all know what’s up whenever this guy is involved.

It’s almost like the association exists to impede graduation plans.

But of course, there are reactions like this.

Warning strike, but we know an indefinite strike is brewing.

And if you’re not one of these people, you should be concerned.

Well, we’re here for you and we recommend that you should consider the following as you wait for resumption:

Take studying up a notch

We’ve all been at that stage where we pray for a strike to delay the school calendar, especially when exams are approaching and we aren’t prepared in the least. If this is you right now, you might want to cover as much schoolwork as you can in this period.

Read that book or watch that show

Twitter can be addictive but it doesn’t count as a reading activity. But you know what does? That book that has been sitting in your library, waiting for you to get to them.

Also, you can take breaks in-between and watch the TV show you’ve been wanting to see. No one will judge you.

Get started on learning that skill

Now that you have some time on your hands, you should consider dedicating some of it to learning the skill you feel strongly about. You won’t become a master at it in two weeks, but the idea is to get started.

Attend to anything else you’ve been procrastinating on

It’s hard to get a grip of everything, especially when you’re in school, making it easy to procrastinate. Now that you’ve gotten some time off school, why don’t you clear some of them off your to-do list?

Living in a school hostel with roommates is a lottery. You get a roommate you get along with by pure chance, which doesn’t happen too often. If you’ve lived with a roommate whose singular purpose in life is to suck the life out of you, you will relate, in some ways, to this post.

1. When you get into your new room and find out that your new roommate is someone you have a beef with

Great. We’re off to a good start.

2. When you patch things up with each other and you think everything will be smoother from there

Who knows? We might even become best friends.

3. When it’s only been a week but they’ve started borrowing your things.

Your quality of life will be better if you could just buy your things, you know?

4. When they don’t even ask anymore before they ‘borrow’ your things.

This wasn’t what I meant when I said whatever is mine is yours.

5. When your things start to get missing but you don’t want to ask them to avoid a confrontation

This thing better turn up.

6. When they start to complain about how dirty the room is but they are the reason it looks like that

Plis dear, that’s not how it works.

7. When their partner becomes an unofficial occupant of the room

Should I leave the room for them or stay and make everyone uncomfortable

8. When they turn you to the doorkeeper because they’ve lost their keys and come back late

Why can’t you come back early like every normal person?

9.  When they start an argument with you over the littlest things

I can’t wait to leave this room for you.

10. When the session is over and they ask you if you’d like to live with them again.

If you don’t geddifok.

We all hate school stress. The annoying routine of lectures, course notes that never seem to end, materials that don’t always have a point and every other thing in between. That is why these yearbook photos are so relatable. The quotes are definitely going to remain evergreen for us.

1. The ideal acknowledgements.

If only we can be honest in the acknowledgement page of our final year projects and term papers. Then our lecturers will know that we learned a lot more from these sources than school.

2. Everything was hell.

A living hell, because sometimes you wonder how your life is going to end, if you’re ever going to survive this, and what will happen to you in this life.

3. Speaking of group projects…

The mantra for everyone doing group projects with fellow course mates.

5. Experiencing sorrow but maintaining beauty.

Never to be caught unfresh. That’s the code.

6. This is for all those people mindlessly chasing first class.

Patience Ozokwor, oyinbo version.

7. The truth and nothing but the truth.

There is no lie in this at all. A total waste of make-up, of clothes, of transport fare sef.

8. Freedom at last.

Because this is really how it feels, after everything. Freedom, even if it’s a temporary one.

9. A rejoinder which is the whole truth of our lives.

You’re never done. From primary school to secondary school to tertiary institutions and it keeps going on.

10. This major awakening.

Sis, we–

11. If this is not a majority of us.

A man who bypassed all rules.

Students in Nigerian universities have stories to tell, but hardly anyone to tell them to. For our weekly series, Aluta and Chill, we are putting the spotlight on these students and their various campus experiences.

Today’s subject on Aluta and Chill is Chidinma Anya, an HND 1 student of Business Administration at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. She wrote JAMB  three times but didn’t get admitted into the universities of her choice. So she went for the next best thing: polytechnic. 

Let’s talk about how you got into school.

I finished secondary school in 2011, but I had to go back because I failed mathematics. I didn’t even write JAMB that year. I was 16, so my dad thought I was too young to go to university. I had to do SS 3 again at another school. 

What was that like?

It was terrible. It was a new school but people knew me and they knew I was supposed to graduate from secondary school the previous year. They didn’t ask me, but they knew what happened. I took everything as best as I could and wrote WAEC again. This time, I passed all my papers.

Energy.

Not so fast. I wrote my first JAMB in 2012 and I didn’t score up to 200. However, I got more than 180, which was the cut-off for University of Abuja where I applied to study Public Administration.

I did the oral interview, but it didn’t happen. I didn’t make it into any of their admission lists. It sucked, but I didn’t stress it. It was my first attempt at writing JAMB.

Did you try again the following year?

Yes. I wrote another one in 2013 and applied to Osun State University. Again, I went for Public Administration.  And again, I wasn’t offered admission. This one hit differently. That was the first time I clocked that there might be a problem. It was tough to handle that. In 2014, I decided that I wasn’t going to write the exam that year. 

Why did you make that decision?

I was tired. All my friends had moved on and I was the only one left behind. I felt out of place, and when things like that happen, you begin to question why you even bother. I guess that’s what happened in 2014. 

I’m sorry about that.

We move. I tried again in 2015. I chose Federal University of Abeokuta (FUNAAB) this time as my first choice. But desperation had kicked in. For the first time, I was deliberate about the choice of a polytechnic and I selected Moshood Abiola polytechnic as my second choice.

 I wrote JAMB, scored above 200 for the first time and wrote both school’s post-UTME exams. This time, I scored 46.5% in FUNAAB’s Post UTME and the cut-off mark was 50%. There was a story about how the school was going to create some new departments and how they would transfer some of us that scored close to the cut-off marks there. So, I waited. Boy, was it a long wait. At the end of it, the polytechnic worked out and I got admitted to study Business Administration. The university didn’t. I was 21 ;when this happened. 

Do you think the four years wait between secondary school and the polytechnic did anything to you?

Yes. The mention of JAMB triggers me. It was the beginning of my mental health struggles. There was a lingering feeling that I was a failure that couldn’t do anything right. It was tough to deal with it because I’d never struggled with school until JAMB. When this admission struggle started, it came with the feeling that I wasn’t as intelligent as I used to think.

I’m sorry about that. 

By the time I was starting at the polytechnic, most of my friends were already graduating from universities. It sucked, but it is what it is.

How excited were you to finally get into school?

I’d been trying for four years, so I couldn’t wait to get started. However, I hated the school from the beginning. Everything about it annoyed the hell out of me.

I’d been away from the academic scene for far too long. I was 21 when I started my National Diploma, and I was in a class filled with 17 and 18-year-olds, so I didn’t exactly fit into the place.  In my first two years, I managed to have only two friends. It was hell.

Did that affect your grades?

Terribly.  I was on a lower credit through my National Diploma, even though my second-year results were better than the first. And it hurt so much because I’d waited so long to get here. I thought about quitting a lot of times — I don’t know where the strength came from, but I stuck with it.

I was dealing with finding a place in the polytechnic and most of the people I knew made it worse because they didn’t think I should be in a polytechnic.

What do you mean?

They couldn’t accept that I was studying at a polytechnic.  After I finished my ND, I worked in an NGO first, then a PR company for a couple of months. Both places were good experiences for the most part, but the people there had something to say about how the polytechnic wasn’t a good fit for me. There was a never-ending influx of advice I didn’t ask for and condescending comments.

What were they saying exactly

Things like how I’m too smart to be a product of a polytechnic. Or how I should give university another go, even if it’s a part-time program.

Not cool. How did you deal with these comments?

Not very well. Everything about this triggered my anxiety; I spent a lot of time crying. There was a feeling of inadequacy already, and it didn’t help that people around me were so negative. I could take it from people I worked with, but when it came from family or friends, it hurt more deeply. 

Where do you think these opinions came from?

I think it’s from a place of fear that I might struggle with a diploma certificate, which I get. There is a clear dichotomy between universities and polytechnics in Nigeria.

However, it’s not been easy to get here and it would be nice to get as much support as I can from the people who claim they want the best for me. I know that I have to be at my best, and I just need them to trust me that I can do it. 

Did these comments put any pressure on you to give university another go?

Totally. At first, I planned to leave after getting my National Diploma.  I was going to write another JAMB and transfer to a private university.

Did you do that?

Yes. I finished ND in 2019 and applied to Lead City University. I got the admission, but I couldn’t continue with it. 

Why?

Finances. I didn’t make the payment deadline. That one just went like that. Immediately I realised I wasn’t going to Lead City,  I applied for MAPOLY for my HND and I got in. 

Did it elicit a strong reaction from anyone you know?

Yes, the usual. But the one that hurt the most came from a family friend. She’d been pushing me to try a part-time degree at a university. When I received the admission offer from the polytechnic, I texted her to let her know. She called me immediately and came for me with everything she had. She was so critical of my decision that I couldn’t hold myself back from crying.  In the middle of it, I had a panic attack. After I’d calmed down, I sent her another text, informing her I was going to go through with it. It was my journey and it would be nice if someone asked what I wanted.

Good for you. How do you manage to deal with all the pressure?

I’m not sure I do that well, to be honest. A panic attack could break out anytime, even though I try to snap out of them. The only thing I can do for myself is to take it one day at a time. 

That’s the best way to do it. Now, do you think you will get your grades up?

I don’t know. I’m quite nervous about it. It hasn’t been easy to get here, and at every point, I’m constantly being reminded by everyone and everything that I’m failing at this thing. I know that I will be fine, though. I’m working to finish my HND with upper credit.  We will see how that goes. 

What are you looking forward to the most now?

Graduation. I’ve been at this thing since 2011. I see myself going back to school after since I have to improve my chances with a Postgraduate Diploma and Masters, but it will be really great to close this chapter first. I’m going to cry on the day I write my last papers. By the time I graduate, it will have been 11 years since I left secondary school. That’s one hell of a long time. But it’s fine. All I want now is a happy ending. 

Are you currently studying in Nigeria or elsewhere and have a story to share about your life in school? Please take a minute to fill this form and we will reach out to you ASAP.

Can’t get enough Aluta and Chill? Check back every Thursday at noon for a new episode. Find other stories in the series here.

Getting an education in Nigeria is a lot of work. You have to stay on top of your game and set your eyes on your CGPA. You have to hone your skills to give yourself a fighting chance after you get that degree. And you have to do all these with the constant worry of money in your mind. No matter how good you’re with money, there will be some moments when you have to make the last 1k in your account last longer than it should. Legend has it that the following combinations can be trusted during those times.

1. Bread and Egg

This combo exists because it is a sin for anyone to stress themselves when they’re broke. The baker has done most of the job with the bread. All the student has to do is to get an egg or two and fry them. Afterwards, the egg is sandwiched inside the bread. For anyone willing to go the extra mile, they can “toast” the bread with their frying pan.

2. Noodles and Egg

If noodles was a secondary school student, it would be that guy that has a friend in all classes. It’s such an easy and accessible meal. This is only good news for Nigerian students as all they need to hold themselves together for a few hours is a pack of noodles, one or two eggs, and three minutes.

3. Beans and everything you can think of

Beans is a delight for students. Its versatility has never been in question. The question is not what can you eat beans with? No, it’s what can’t you eat beans with?

Of course, no one can answer this better than the student who is trying to get the best value at a minimal cost. There are a lot of options, but bread, garri, potatoes, rice and spaghetti are some of the most-favoured in the student circles.

4. Rice and palm oil

Uhm, this is supposed to look like Jollof rice — and depending on how it’s done, it can manage to look a little like it. However, while Jollof rice is made with love, this combination reeks of struggle. It does its job, though. 

5. Eba and stew

There’s only so much garri anyone can drink, even if it’s laden with milk. Thankfully, all you need to make it into a swallow is a few cups of hot water. Set aside. Now, get some tomatoes and red pepper, blend and make into a stew. This combo gives life. No cap.

School-run hostels might be one of the cheapest accommodation options available to students, but for a variety of reasons, they are wild places to live in. If you’ve lived in one of these, you will definitely relate to this post.

 1. When you’re trying to book a bedspace but they’ve closed the portal after 10 minutes

You people don’t rate me.

2. When you expect to see three people in your room but you find 10 because your roommates brought their friends with them

Is this a refugee camp?

3. When you’re about to start studying and they take light

Ah!

4. When the light hasn’t been restored after a day and water has run out 

This is the start of an anarchy

5. You, debating within yourself if you should risk using the toilets

Will I survive the trauma of what I’m about to see?

6. When the porters start acting like they own the buildings

Look at these glorified babysitters oh.

7. When you realise what all the rules about living in the hostel mean for you

I have to be back before 10PM?

8. When you’re about to sleep and your roommate starts playing loud music

Why don’t you have sense?

9. When your roommates start an argument and you can’t decide if you should get involved or mind your business

Sha don’t kill yourselves

10. When a porter threatens to evict you because of something your roommates did

What kind of wahala is this?

One of the biggest expectation vs reality shock comes for everyone during their first weeks in a university or any other tertiary institution. It feels like the right time to take a look back at that (dark) period and think about your survival story.

1. You, when you find your name in the admission list

Thank you, God.

2. You, telling everyone that you will graduate with a first-class

I’m telling you.

3. When you first get into the school gates and see people everywhere  

Why are there so many people?

4. You, paying for everything without bothering to find out the actual price

But why is everything so expensive though?

5. When you find out you’ve been paying vendors and cab drivers more than the actual charge

Humans are scum.

6. When you’re a fresh female student and returning male students keep offering to help you

Hmm, this looks suspicious.

7. When you see the list of courses and you can’t decide which ones to choose

What’s all this?

8. When you write your first test and get the lowest score you’ve gotten in your life 

But I was the brightest in my secondary school.

9. You, wondering why you’re in school after you’ve been hit with a couple of bad scores in your first tests

Why do I even bother?

10. You, writing your exams with the fear of failure in your mind

I can’t go back home.

11. When the results come out and you’ve not been advised to withdraw

Phew!

12. But you also realise that a first-class is not in the bag anymore

We move.