
Toke Makinwa, popular media personality, says she almostlost her admission at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) due to her nonchalant disposition to academics.
The 30-year-old Ondo indigene made this revelation in herbook, ‘On Becoming’ , which largely detailed her failed
marriage to Maje Ayida, a fitness expert.
She wrote: “University of Lagos was a whole new world for
me. I had gotten admission to study English Language (Big
Mummy thought I was studying Law and would find out in
my second year that I wasn’t) but I never went to classes.
“Then my third year results came out. I had gone to check
the results on the notice board in school, and right beside
my name, where my Grade Point was supposed to be was
‘Advised to Withdraw’.
“I wasn’t bothered at first. I started planning what I would
do as a university dropout; travelling out of the country to
start my life again was my favourite option. But I didn’t get
a chance to put my plan into action. Big Mummy found
out.”
The ubiquitous On-Air-Personality said she was spared on
“humanitarian grounds”, and added that the incident marked
a turning point in her life.
“A distant uncle was a professor in my faculty and was on
the board that heard the cases of students advised to
withdraw. When he heard my name, he called Big Mummy
that very night. I hadn’t told anyone at home what
happened, not even my sisters.
“Big Mummy came to school the next day and she had to go
before the board with me to beg. After hearing my story and
how I had lost my parents very early, the board decided on
humanitarian grounds to let me take the year again.
“That decision marked the turning point of my life. I got my
act together and in two years went from having an almost
non-existent GP to a second class lower which I graduated
with.”