Hello guys, today our guest is Awosanya Yusuff Adewale a 25-year old author and PhD candidate. Yep, we have High Achievers in Nigeria and Yusuff is one of them.
Yusuff was born on the 16th of July 1992 at Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. He attended Richmab Nursery and Primary School and for Secondary school he went to Atanda International High School in Ibadan. For his undergraduate study he attended Bells University of Technology, Nigeria where he studied accounting. He went to do his masters at Birmingham City University. While attending Birmingham City University he wrote the ACCA Professional exam at the Bratim Tuition Centre.
Yusuff is currently working on his PhD in Finance at the University of Bolton. From his undergrad days Yusuff has often been the group leader in group academic activities and currently he represents all Research students at the University of Bolton on two boards; The Board of studies for research degrees and The Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee. His primary duty on these two boards is to ensure that his fellow research students get the best of their research degrees.
The Journey to Becoming A Great Student
Yusuf made the decision to write his book ‘The Journey to Becoming a Great Student’ in 2017 when he started his PhD. Yusuff looks (and is) quite young so many people often ask him questions of his academic journey and how he was able to achieve much at his age. In Chapter 3, page 29 of his book Yusuff met an older man who mourned the fact that his son dropped out of school and thus did not graduate, that led him to empathize with parents of people who absolutely refuse to try or push on academically. But he didn’t just stop there he went on to think about it from the perspective of these students. Using himself as a case study Yusuff analyzed the struggles of being a student which led him to write a book on the subject matter.
In his book Yusuff pointed out the fact that Education requires discipline and this discipline is also very useful in daily life outside traditional education. His book tells us not to look at education as a burden we must carry for the best part of our years but as a process of gaining discipline and exposure which we would definitely need/use in our adult life. He also made an important point; He said that the fact that you study a specific course does not mean you’ll make a career out of that course. For instance, you may study law but become an accountant after taking the ICAN exams. Undergrad courses are not meant to limit your career choices but broaden your exposure to different career paths that’ll suit you.
Writing, Sales and Distribution
Because of its Academic nature Yusuff had some doubts that his book would sell so he put in effort on the quality of the book (content, cover graphics and paper material) and got important people to review it. It took him close to 7 months to write the book; it was easy for him to write his memoir but he still needed to do research and get input from people. Then he reviewed it with his editor and kept making adjustments until they decided it was good enough.
‘My name and face are on the book which means the quality of the book says a lot about me.’
The book costs N3000.00 in Nigeria 7.99 pounds in the United Kingdom and $9.99 in the United States. Ajalabooks publishers help distribute the books in Nigeria and Amazon distributes them internationally. The e-books are available for download on Okadabooks and Amazon Kindle.
Commenting on the increasing rate of ‘Unemployable’ youths in Nigeria Yusuff said;
‘Getting international universities to have branches in Nigeria in the long run will make the educational system more competitive. But the onus is still on the youths… I emphasized in my book how important self-education is. In the book I explained that “certificates will open doors for you, but its self-education that will keep you indoors” It’s high time we started taking some blames. we can\’t keep pointing fingers. Yes, maybe the education system is deteriorating but, in my opinion, rather than giving ourselves excuses to fail, we can work on ourselves. the internet has made self-education very accessible’.
Entrepreneurship and Academics
In Chapter 3 of his book Yusuff analyzed the level of education of Top entrepreneurs and business people and most of them have not graduated from just any universities but from top universities across the world.
‘This shows how important academics still is even as we claim to be millennials. It’s just a matter of improving the quality of the teaching at these institutes. Hopefully, we can see some improvement in the Nigerian education system over time.’
Job Opportunities for Scientists and other Research based Careers in Nigeria.
‘I don\’t think Science and technology can be hurt. These are academic areas that have stood the test of time. They will be very integral to our existence no matter what and so many people will still be very much fascinated and passionate about such academic areas regardless of how much the world changes. Because these are the people that actually change the world.
Yes, it is difficult for scientists to get jobs other than in the academics, but that’s very relative it’s based on many factors. For instance, in the US, science guarantees more jobs than business with the Pharmaceutical sector as the largest industry so it follows that it employs more people than other industries. But, I think for Nigeria, regardless of your area of studies, it is a bit challenging to get relevant jobs. The unemployment/ underemployment level is at 49% so it’s not just science graduates that suffer.’
Sexual Harassment from Lecturers at Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria
‘I often wonder why more strict measures are not taken by universities to prevent such acts. But, regardless of what\’s at stake, students should not succumb to such immorality because these are memories that stay for a life time.
First of all, avoid it by not getting too familiar with lecturers, and then you can report such lecturers anonymously, but dropping out should not be an option.’
You can reach Yusuff on his Social media;
Instagram: @day_topia
Twitter: @day_topia