Ekene Franklin Ezeunala, SS3 pupil of Meiran Community Secondary School, Meiran, on the outskirts of Lagos, has attributed his feat in 2019 UTME to regular participation in competitions oragnised by Lagos State government.
The top JAMB scorer was quoted saying:
“The competitions impacted positively on my preparation. Some of the subjects I did I had done them in preparing for the competitions and met the same thing in the exams,”
He said yesterday that he was shocked to be announced the candidate with the highest score. According to him, he tried to make a good score while preparing for the examination. “The score I was targeting was 370. I still feel happy that I still achieved a good result.”
Why Ekene started School early, to become a secondary school graduate at age 15
His mother, Mrs. Chinelo Ezeunala, a Chemistry teacher at Hightree College, a private school at Berger, Lagos, said she was happy about her son’s feat as she reveals the reasons behind Ekene’s fast education.
The Chemistry graduate said her son had always shown brilliance in his education and as a result skipped some classes in primary school.
“He started school early at two years plus because I was serving when I had him. He attended Philthel Primary School, Akoka. The school was owned by a professor teaching at the University of Lagos. But the woman is late now.
“In primary school he was very bright so he was promoted twice that was why he is 14 years in SS3,” she said.
Mrs Ezeunala learnt of a scholarship offer by Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, from this reporter.
When asked if she would allow the boy to go, she said it would be discussed as a family. She said the family was not buoyant enough to afford private university fees if the offer was not a full scholarship. She said her husband was a retired staff of the defunct NITEL where he worked as a technician and had experienced hard luck in his efforts at running businesses.
She said: “We are not really well off and we cannot afford private university fees. If it is full scholarship, my opinion is ‘why not?’
The Uturu, Okigwe, Abia-based varsity, awarded scholarship to Ekene and Emmanuel Chidiebube 16, who scored 346.