by Anike Jacobs

It is never too late to go to school.

Mrs. Juliana Godwin, a 42-year-old has dusted her books and gone back to school – she is now a Junior Secondary School I (JSSI) student of Junior Secondary School, Gosa, Abuja.

Mrs. Godwin, her education stalled by lack of sponsorship, a situation that made her to drop out, in 1983, of LEA Primary School, Riyom.

Read her story as told to Vanguard newspaper below:

“I had to leave for Jos in 1983, since my father could no longer sponsor my education to secondary school because he had no money. While I was with my cousin, I enrolled in a tailoring shop to learn dress making. I completed it within a year and  six months.

In 2001, me and my children left Jos to join my husband in Abuja, where we live at Gosa village, along Airport Road.

I became the bread-winner of her family. Since I had skill in hair plaiting, that became a source of livelihood for us. Later I ventured into hawking of water in a basin in Gosa market to boost the family’s income.

“In 2003, I was able to save some money from water hawking. I started pepper and tomato business with N1,000 from the savings. I also went into corn roasting business, but my husband stopped me from the business in 2007,” she said.

“In 2008, I decided to go into vocational training with a non-governmental organisation called Refocusing Nigerian Talents Organisation, RENITO, where I was trained in soap (liquid, medicated and bar), pomade and disinfectants production.

“Now I can produce and sell the products I was trained on, and I started with N1,500”

“I came to realise that the business was lucrative and helpful to me and my family. I decided to make savings towards going back to school after I dropped out in 1983.

“My husband was against my decision and quarrelled seriously with me. But I didn’t give up on my decision. In 2013, I went on to enrol at Junior Secondary School, Gosa, Airport Road, Abuja, where I started in JSS I F. I was able to raise N10, 000 to pay for admission expenses.

“Why I decided to start from JSSI was because I had never in my life stepped into the four walls of a secondary school. I told myself I will start from JSS I, as it will help me to have the foundation of secondary school education and to understand what I would be taught.

“My principal was surprised and asked me whether I could cope with secondary school education as an adult and a married woman. He and the staff also encouraged me to continue since I had made up my mind. But my husband continued making trouble to stop me”.

“I am the oldest person in the class of 80 students. I participate in every school activity, and I am happy with that. Even when I come late to school, the teachers do punish me just like other students, and I have no problem with that, but I do behave myself as an adult.”

“I have seen great changes in my life, and I am coping seriously. My aim is to study marketing in the university after I would have completed my senior secondary education,” she narrated.

Recall that a few years back, veteran Kola Oyewo also when back to school and today, he holds a Ph.d.