Looking at bankers from a distance, one would already love to look smart and appear mature. That's what I felt each time I visited the bank to deposit my teacher. Mrs Uthman uses the Mortgage bank opposite the school gate. Every Friday, she would fill out the deposit slip and ask me to lodge it into her account. Aside from being our teacher, she sells some wares like pencils, pens, readers, sharpeners, mathematical sets, and other stationery.
Trust me some kids bought pens and pencils daily because of their carelessness in handling their materials. Hence, Mrs Uthman makes a lot of money from selling those things. At that age, I was already used to the procedure of the bank. This was what propelled my intention to become a banker too.
When it was time to choose a career, I chose banking. This led me to the commercial department in my senior secondary school. Subjects like economics, commerce and financial accounting were very significant to studying banking and finance. Undoubtedly, I took these subjects very seriously. I devoted my time from the early senior class to studying privately after school.
I began to notice our teacher who was taking us on account and commerce from the very first day I got to the commercial class. The guy entered our class and bombarded us with a lot of notes.
Good morning class. I am Mr Ajanlekoko and I would be teaching you financial accounting and commerce.
We looked at him as continued to say different things that should be expected during his class session. After what seem like an inaugural speech, he said:
Who is your class captain?
Kassim Olanreweju, who was just newly elected by the class to be our class captain, put up his hands for identification. And the next thing we knew was that he was given notes for a whole term on both subjects. This was least expected.
Me Ajanlekoko did not come to our class again until few weeks before the first term examination to give us an area of concentration for the examination.
For our accounting class, whenever we asked him questions when we found it difficult to attempt, he would just do one quick guesswork and would not consider the additional information to solve the question. Our accounting classes always ended in more confusion.
This continued until we got to the final year. My dad decided that I should try out GCE in early SS3 as a trial examination before facing Baba Yaba, what we usually called the West African Examination Certificate, back then. The form was purchased and I sat for the examination. As one of the best in the class, hopes were high that I would kill the exam.
We resumed SS3 while we were awaiting the results of the GCE. Back in the day, GCE results were usually released in February, which is almost half of the second term. After much waiting, the results were released and I got the shock of my life.
Mathematics- D7
English Language- D7
Biology- D7
Economics- C6
Commerce- F9
Financial Accounting- F9
Yoruba- Withheld
Agricultural Science- C4
Government- C4
The dream of becoming a banker was becoming bleak. I started to think of the immediate possible ways to ameliorate my conditions and came up with changing departments.
The final examination will be written in June and here I am in February with such a devastating result. I quickly left the commercial class and the dream of becoming a banker.
Without anyone pushing me, I read the essential government textbook and got acquainted with the contents. And also the same for Christian religious knowledge and History. I had to burn my night candles because I knew this could be my last chance.
In our home, I am the eldest son. My immediate younger brother is just a year younger than I. And he will be passing secondary school a year after me. Based on that calculation, I had to meet up with admission to the higher institution the following year. There was no option left for me than to succeed in this final examination, so I gave it my best shot.
Writing examinations in a military-based school was a tug of war. Students in my school have to learn to be independent during examinations. When it was time to write the examination, the experience I had gathered when I sat for the GCE about a year ago helped me.
All said and done, the examination was concluded and secondary school life was put behind me. The next phase was to prepare for the university matriculation examination with an awaiting O'level result.
God was on my side. I cleared the WAEC results and came out in flying colors, especially in the newly taken arts subjects. My JAMB results too were fine and I got admission to study History and International Studies at the university. A course that is far different from my dream course and career. Thanks to the attitude of Mr Ajanlekoko.