At
nine years, Master Lucky Ayolu, from Ekeni in Southern Ijaw Local Government of
Bayelsa State, lost his father and mother.
Expectedly,
life became cruel to him as he learnt to fend for himself. He told our
correspondent that he took to fishing to pay for his fees in primary and
secondary schools, as his grandmother, whom he stayed with, did not have
enough.
However,
as someone who is destined to succeed in life, Ayolu, now 17 years, has become
a beneficiary of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s overseas scholarship.
The
scholarship scheme, whose yearly budget is about N120m, and managed by Bassan
West Cluster Development Board, saw Ayolu as one of the 14 beneficiaries.
Ayolu,
who spoke to PUNCH Metro, said his life was a testimony that “absolute
faith in God and hard work are very important in life.”
He
said, “Life has been unkind to me. But today, I have every cause to glorify God
for lifting me up beyond my imagination.
“At
a point, I lost hope completely and started nursing the idea of taking my life.
It was so bad that when I heard about this scholarship, I could not raise
transport fare to the venue of the examination.”
Ayolu
said one of his cousins assisted him financially to obtain the scholarship form
and also gave him transport fare from Ekene to Yenagoa where the test took
place.
“At
the end of the test, I was successful. I am going to read Computer Science at
Wisconsin University, Ghana. The discipline has been my lifelong ambition and I
am grateful that God has used my community and Shell to make the dream a
reality.”
He
advised other youths in difficult situation not to give up, saying that with
hard work and trust in God, they would achieve their desires.
He
also urged the governments at all levels to look into the plight of the orphans
in the country.
“Governments
should look into the plight of orphaned children in the country. They should
not abandon them. The government should institute a scholarship scheme for the
orphaned,” Ayolu said.
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