Continued from the last post.

A lesson I held on to after realizing most of my objectives at such a short period of time is that a man must never rest on his achievements but continually strive to attain greater heights, setting bigger goals. That is the only way to live a life worthy of emulation. My next goal was to tap into the new computer and get everything I can from it. I know that some people will be more interested in playing games on it and just browsing funny websites; I organized with some computer gurus of those days to start a computer training session at a cheap price for our members. Personally, I realized that I had affinity for the computer and the things I can do with it but the association’s computer cannot meet these goals for me. There were too many people to it and with my principled life – I cannot veto the use to myself.

This was the same period I was preparing for my final year project and months prior to this; I told my parents I was going to need 25,000 naira for the expenses. I had plans for this money as I wanted to improve my outlook in school as a President and Union official. I knew I will not finish the money on my project so I decided to buy a Television set, VCD player and rug my corner to befit my status. But I also know that the 25,000 was not going to be easy for my parents to get back then and was worried that I should not be selfish to buy those kind of things with the money. That was when the solution came out – to buy a computer for myself. The thought was crazy at that point because the money was not going to be enough. But God was not through with me yet and the same day I conceived this plan – a miracle happened.

I was just discussing with a friend and he told me had a Motherboard/processor and hard disk he was not using and that I could have it but warned me I was going to pay for it later. I accepted it with thanks. The next day, I saw another friend and after telling him I had 25,000 naira cash and some other changes with a processor/motherboard and hard disk; he told me we will be able to get my computer done and gave me a list of things to buy.

We went to the Computer village in Lagos a few days later and bought everything and returned to Ife late same day. It was with pride, happiness and fulfillment that I assembled my first computer the next day. That was a milestone for me as I lost count of the number of computers I assembled in the coming months that made me good money from customers. And that marked my big entrance into the field of ICT as I started learning all sorts myself without going to any computer school. I learned programming, web development, databases, networking, Linux, etc in the comfort of my room in Adekunle Fajuyi Hall. It was a great time for me as finally I realized something I enjoyed doing without frowning and getting bored. The computer could play music and I was able to watch VCD on it as well :).

I also became very happy as most members of my department started getting very computer literate and they could compete with students from Computer Science departments on IT projects. Another good thing that came out of the whole process was the confidence level of our students that sky rocketed and an improvement in the academic performance of our members. We also found out that a lot of our alumni were doing well outside which was a boost to many of us and so a better approach to learning and preparing for the outside world.

I must remember to say that my first Computer has a special place in my heart till today and is stored in my parents’ house in Ibadan till date. I should also not forget to say that my dad gave me 15,000 out of that money and my mum sacrificed the last payment of her gratuity to balance the 10,000 naira. I am happy that I did not buy TV and VCD with the money and I remember telling myself that if I get it right – I would be able to buy a lot of those electronics in future. The dream came true. I actually went to a shop one day not too long ago and bought a big Home theater, another big sound system, a television, a DVD player in just one day. Talking about postponing gratification.

If there is any reason I am putting all these down – it is to inspire people who had backgrounds similar to mine but are limiting what they can achieve in life. There is no excuse for failure and the only limitation we have is self. I will continue writing about my journey starting with another title in the next post. Thank you for following the story.