Fidelia Soriwei, Abuja
Nengi Donald Jaja, a beneficiary of a scholarship awarded by former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike in 2017, has emerged as the overall Best Graduating Student of the College of Law at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, winning 12 awards.
Jaja announced the achievement in a post on X on Saturday, reflecting on how the scholarship, awarded after he performed a song at an event in December 2017, transformed his life.
“Thanks to the scholarship awarded to me by the Rivers State Government in 2017, I dared to dream, and today, that dream has become a reality,” he wrote.
The scholarship was intended to fund his education from secondary school through university. Jaja said he was initially too young to appreciate the scale of the opportunity but later drew motivation from it to pursue academic excellence while nurturing his ambition of becoming an R&B and soul artiste.
He said he had set a goal of graduating as the best Arts student in secondary school and achieved it, alongside receiving other awards recognising his character and conduct.
Jaja said he maintained the same determination at university despite the demands of combining his studies with several leadership positions.
“Across my ten semesters as an undergraduate, I had eight semesters with a 5.00 GPA, with a 4.96 and 4.87 in the remaining two. Altogether, I graduated with 69 As and 2 Bs,” he said.
He described his emergence as the College of Law’s overall best graduating student and salutatorian as the fulfilment of a childhood promise. He also said he was the first male student to attain the distinction.
Jaja credited God, his family, friends and lecturers for supporting his academic journey. He also acknowledged the music of singer Tems for helping him remain emotionally grounded throughout his studies.
“What began with a young boy simply singing a song became an opportunity that changed the trajectory of my life,” he said, expressing gratitude to the Rivers State Government for the scholarship.
A report published by Tribune on December 24, 2017, said Wike awarded Jaja a ₦40m scholarship after he performed at a thanksgiving service in Port Harcourt. The award was intended to cover his education from secondary school through university.
