In 2011 while in my 3rd year at University, I lost my dad who was responsible for paying my fees. I guess he decided to join his wife, my mum who died 5 years earlier in 2006. It seemed like the whole world had come to an end. My world came crashing. Shortly after his burial, I was awarded the Total undergraduate scholarship which put N150,000 in my account every session. Although my parents were dead, the rest of my university education was massively smooth because I had made efforts to submit a scholarship application.

The picture shows me typing my undergraduate thesis on my very first laptop (purchased with my first scholarship amount) in my room in “Anas house, high court, Keffi, Nasarawa state University Nigeria”.

This was the deliberate start of my scholarship application journey. Since 2011, the rest of my university education (Masters and PhD) has remained funded by scholarships.

Since 2011, I took steps to not just be any kind of orphan but a “Privileged Orphan”. By societal standards, I was an orphan, but I literally changed the title by adding a simple prefix- Privileged. This was deliberate. It took work and grace.

What’s your story? What’s your current situation? What’s the title about yourself you wanna change? What does society make or think of you? What steps are you taking to change that title? Trust me, from where I am standing, I know you can change your title, it begins with a move. Are you simply talking about it or are you actually going to start doing it?

In closing, “Until you change your societally assigned title, your growth might remain limited”.

Get to work and change that title. See you at the top.

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