Meet Aishat Farooq, Pregnant at 18, Best Graduating Student at 25

Seven years after an unwanted pregnancy forced her to drop out of the University of Ilorin, Aishat Farooq emerges the best graduating student of the Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, reports Temitayo Famutimi

When Aishat Farooq gained admission into the University of Ilorin at 15, to study Zoology, little did she know that she was not going to be an alumnus of the institution. That was in 2003.

Despite the fact that she was a high flyer in her first two years in UNILORIN, the now 25-year-old indigene of Ilorin West-Local Government Area of Kwara State got distracted along the line. She played the campus love game and got a shocking result: she got pregnant.

It was in 2006 and in her third year. She was pregnant for a fellow student whom she had been dating. She was disappointed in herself and thought the whole world was crashing on her.  Yet, she vowed not to terminate the pregnancy.

Although she wanted to continue her studies in the university,  she became disillusioned and dropped out at 18. She sought consolation in trading.

But her father, Mr. Shehu Farooq, who believed that his daughter’s academic prowess should not be wasted,  was determined to get her back on the academic track.

Today, Aishat has a different story to tell. On Saturday, she stood tall among her peers at the 5th convocation ceremony of Bells University, Ota, Ogun State, where she emerged the overall best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.93.

“The rebel in me won,” she declared while giving the valedictory address on behalf of the 208 graduating students of the university.

“I hope my story will inspire at least one person to change his or her circumstance. I was pregnant at 18 and by 19 I was already a mother. I had disappointed my father who believed so much in me. He had such big dreams for me and feared the dreams would become unfulfilled,” she added.

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