My university days were filled with turbulence of different kinds. Majority of the turbulence was linked to lack of money to run my programme comfortably the way I was supposed. I lived a frugal life throughout my undergraduate days.
The money from home each session would just be enough to settle my tuition and accomodation fees. Surviving each semester became a battle.
I had a sister who used to bail me out in critical situations when nothing was forthcoming from my parents. There was a day that I reached out to her to come to my rescue as usual.
I used to spend 100 Naira on transportation to and from school daily. Any day I didn't have money, I would trek the distance for about 40 minutes to school and another 40 minutes back to my hostel.
I had nothing on me to run a new week and on Sunday evening, I reached out to my sister who promised to send me the 2000 Naira the following morning.
I was dressing up to leave my hostel around 9 am so that I could trek to school to attend a 10 am lecture when my bank notified me of 2000 Naira credit from her.
I trekked to school as planned and immediately I concluded my 10am - 12 pm lecture, I decided to visit the bank to make the withdrawal. I didn't have a debit card so the withdrawal had to be from the teller.
I reached out to my friend to borrow 100 Naira to go to the bank for the withdrawal. He was only having #50 that he could release to me. I collected the #50 Naira and proceeded to the bank with the plan that I would transport myself back once I withdrew the money.
I needed to do this within two hours because I had another lecture by 2-4 pm. The lecturer had hinted us about writing a very important test which I couldn't afford to miss.
I arrived at the banking hall and I went straight to pick a withdrawal slip, fill in the necessary information and joined the queue that was for teller withdrawal.
I was the sixth person on the queue and after two people among the five in front of me were attended to, there was a hitch in the server of the bank. The network broke down. All the banking activities that required the internet were halted.
In my standing position, I was confused about the next step to take. I looked round the hall in total confusion. I saw a wall clock telling me the time was 3 pm. One hour is gone from the two hours that I had to return to campus. I left my standing position to go and sit on a chair meant for customers. I was there counting minutes and at intervals of about 10 minutes, I would ask the bank official if the server was back to which the answer was continually in the negative.
After sitting down for 30 minutes, I walked straight to one of the tellers to explain my predicament to him. I humbly pleaded with him to either find a way to help do the withdrawal or help me with a token to transport myself back to campus.
"There is nothing I can do without a network."
He responded without making any comment about the second option of my request.
The time was going and I was running out of patience. The 20 minutes left wasn't enough to consider trekking to campus. I needed at least 40 minutes to do that. I went back to my seat. I bowed my head and I didn't know when tears started rolling down my cheeks.
Coincidentally, the bank manager entered the hall and sighted me in such a mood.
"Young man, what's the problem?" He asked me.
I explained everything to him. I was considering giving up on the degree and I let him know.
"I planned to take my lunch in the office before going to catch up with someone in your University." He responded. "Since you are running out of time for your test, let me use one stone to kill two birds. When I come back, I will take my lunch."
He turned back and gestured to me to follow him as he was exiting the bank. I followed him to his car and we started the less than 10 minutes drive.
"My brother, don't give up." He said to me. "Many are looking for this opportunity to no avail. I have been through a worse situation. I have a scar under my foot. It was a nail that pierced my foot when I was in highschool. I had no shoes and that was partly responsible for the level of impact the nail had on my foot. If I should tell you the journey of my life, the rest of today isn't enough for me to exhaust what I experienced. Here I am today as the Manager of a bank.
"When I realized that the only escape route I had from poverty was education, I set my eyes on the goal without minding what I would encounter while pursuing that goal. I want you to do away with the idea of giving up. Brace up to achieve your goals."
He wanted to tell me more but there was no time. It was almost 4 pm when the scheduled test would take place. Before I alighted from the car, he removed his shoe and showed me the scar.
"I have a lot of stories behind this scar. It is easy for me to tell the story because I won the battle. Try and win the battle and you will see how sweet it is to narrate your story in the future."
He dipped his hand into a safe in the car's dashboard and gave me 5000 Naira.
"You can always check on me in the bank. Here is my card for you to have my phone number. Call me anytime you wish to come." He concluded before departing.
This experience was the greatest motivation that saw me through my degree. Whenever I was considering quitting, I remember the manager's words that I have to win the battle for me to be proud of telling the story in the future.
I faced the challenges and won the battle at the end of it all.
If I hadn't encountered the bank manager, I would probably have left my studies out of frustration.