Ayodele Dada of the perfect Unilag CGPA gets well-deserved recognition for his hard work

This young man fills me with so much feel-good and pride that I don’t mind writing over and over about him. Ayodele Dada graduated from the University of Lagos with a perfect score from the department of Psychology (whoop whoop! Guess what I studied, readers??)

A 5.0 CGPA – previously unheard of from that school. We wrote about it here along with all the funny memes that resulted from the announcement (seriously, did he do nothing but read during those four years?? Turns out he did! He offered the university so much of his time by partaking in activities on campus, and he was a social fellow, by all accounts. Top grade wizard!). That seemed to be the end of that, but boy, I’m glad it wasn’t.

See, we got asked several times why Viva Naija never covered the Olajumoke Orisaguna story, and there was no way we could respond to it without sounding shady, so we made the decision to let it slide.

With Ayodele Dada shining a beacon on the exact reason why we never said anything as a media outlet, we now feel we can talk.

There is little to say about luck other than “Phew! That was lucky!”

If you’re walking along the road and your Prada dress narrowly avoids being splashed by poto poto from an oncoming car, I would no more blog about that than I would blog about a bread seller.

She’s not a former model fallen on hard times who got rescued, she’s a bread seller who happened to be selling her market when the right person noticed. We couldn’t be happier for her, but there is no lesson to be learnt here. If there is any lesson, it’s this – keep doing what you’re doing. Maybe someone will notice and completely elevate you but chances are it won’t happen that way. If you stay focussed though, then at least your daily bread (ha ha) will be covered.

Hard work, commitment, growth and excellence though?? We will screech about these things from the roof tops. Till our lungs are sore. And even then we will carry placards that read AYODELE DADA is a gee!

So we are immensely pleased to announce that people want to celebrate him as loudly as they did a fortunate bread seller. When the news came out that Dada was having some problems with accommodation, DJ Freeze from CoolFM helped him to ‘loud it’.

There were calls for everyone to help this young man, and several people heeded the calls (including bleach-till-you’re-transparent businesswoman, Dencia) but eventually, it was CEO of Sujimoto Construction, Sijibomi Ogundele, who came through with the offer of a house for this young talent.

AYODELE Daniel Dada update: I just got off the phone with @sujimoto81 who was very enthusiastic about @ayodeledanieldada and in his exact words he said "Never again in the history of this country would the talent of a young man/lady be left without helping him attain it's full potential". Earlier on, I read that @iamdencia offered to help with his rent. My question now: Is the growth of this Country now the sole responsibility of the youths? Are our politicians going to ignore this guys immense talent? Sujimoto and Dencia are both young people and they immediately jumped at the opportunity to lay the building blocks of our future. Your excellency, Gov. Ayodele Fayose, I can see you love Nigeria and you are passionate about her growth, please help Ayodele, he is your name sake. Otunba Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola, let's put all hands on deck, to ensure that our future is secure by harnessing all of Nigeria's available intellectual potential. I can try but without you people he can't go very far! Thank you in advance!

A post shared by Freeze Coolfm CPS DCC (@daddyfreeze) on Mar 5, 2016 at 10:27am PST

His exact words:

Never again in the history of this country would the talent of a young man/lady be left without helping him attain it’s full potential

Perfect. Talent, skill and potential MUST be recognised and celebrated. And this is all that Viva Naija stands for.

May the fruits of your labour never cease in coming to you, Mr Dada. Congratulations once again!