Otoko Steven Edwards, a Nigerian student was able to make first-class in Pure and Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
What’s most interesting about this news is the student is the first person to make this achievement since the department has been established in the year 1980.
He said that he was admitted originally into the school to study mechanical engineering but moved to the mathematics department after realizing that he was more of a math person.
He said in the quote;
“I was initially admitted to study Mechanical Engineering and along the line, I just realized the whole engineering thing wasn’t for me. I tried to apply for transfer into the Math Department. I already had a very good math foundation and I found it very easy to deal with. The transfer didn’t really work out, so I opted in for JAMB, and I when I got admitted, I left the Mechanical Engineering”
This rare achievement has put his name in the school’s hall of fame, permanently.
According to him;
“Getting into the department of mathematics, I started off with a CGPA of 4.83. Prior to that, I have had people saying ‘don’t dream of having a first-class, even if you start well because you can’t have it. People don’t get that in the Math Department.’ I believed in myself and was hopeful and prayerful. I said to myself that I can’t let the 4.83 go to waste, so I put in so much effort. Though there are semesters I had less than 4.50. But I made 4.41 as well as 4.36. In the last semester of my final year, I made the last two 5.0 GPA.”
When he was asked how he was able to reach the uppermost mark, Edwards said he was prayerful but then again prayers work only when accompanied with hard work. So he put so much work into his studies.
“In as much as having always wanted to finish with a first-class, everything boils down to prayer, being hopeful, and believing. I remember when I studied 14hrs on a stretch during and before exams. So the hard work really paid off.”
The Rivers State University’s Department of Mathematics was founded in 1980, and ever since then, no student has graduated with a first-class degree. Okoto Steven Edwards has succeeded in breaking the long-running record.
