DREAM IN THE DUST

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 01:02:26 +0100

It all started while we were young.

Everyone had that bigger dream picture—becoming a doctor, a nurse, a lawyer, or an engineer. In primary school, teachers asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and we answered with voices full of confidence, eyes bright with imagination.

Growing up, we met the gatekeepers of those dreams. JAMB became our first battlefield—four subjects standing between us and the life we imagined. We studied through candlelight, borrowed textbooks, and sat in crowded lesson halls where teachers shouted formulas like preachers. Some of us passed, some missed the cut-off by a single mark. And for many, the cycle repeated—once, twice, three times. Each failure felt like a label: “Not good enough.”

And then came admission. Or rather, the waiting for admission.

You checked your CAPS portal like it was an altar. Your heart raced at every rumor: “They’ve started giving admission in UNILAG… they’ve started in UNIOSUN… "Your screening score is out.” You prayed. You refreshed. And sometimes, your name never appeared.

Or worse, it appeared, but next to a course you never imagined.

You dreamed of Medicine, but they gave you Plant Science. You dreamed of Law, but you were offered History. You wanted Engineering, but they pushed you into Education. And suddenly, you asked yourself: “Is this how my life will go? Am I to live in someone else’s dream?”

For those who entered, another kind of struggle began.

ASUU strikes paused your life for months, even years. You saw classmates grow tired, some leaving school altogether. You saw families borrow money for your acceptance fees, while others dropped out because their parents couldn’t afford the school hostel. You sat in overcrowded lecture halls, where you were more of a number than a student. And in the middle of it all, you questioned if the dream was even worth it.

Nigeria will test you.

It will push you to the edge. It will make you doubt yourself, doubt the system, doubt your future. But listen—your dream, though buried in dust, is not dead. The dust does not kill the seed; it only covers it.

Yes, you may end up in a course you never planned. But sometimes destiny hides itself in strange doors. Many who wanted to study Medicine but studied Microbiology still became doctors abroad. Many who studied education have become world-class authors. Many who never got the course they prayed for discovered talents they never imagined.

The truth is, the path may not be straight. It may be twisted, delayed, or unfair. You may fail, you may repeat, you may take detours. But what matters is that you keep going. Because education in Nigeria is not just about certificates—it is about resilience, about survival, about proving that dust cannot choke a dream.

So, dear aspirant, do not let rejection define you. Do not let a course you never wanted cage your vision. You can start in the dust and still rise to the stars. You can be delayed but not denied. You can bend but not break.

Someday, you will wear that gown and cap.

Someday, you will look back and see that the struggle was not your end—it was your sharpening.

Someday, the dust will clear, and your dream will shine, brighter than you ever imagined.

Dream in the Dust is still a dream. And one day, it will speak.

✨ To everyone still waiting for admission—this is for you. Your story is not over. Your dream is not cancelled. The dust is only temporary.

💭 What stage are you in right now—still checking your portal every day, writing JAMB again, struggling with the course you didn’t expect, or perhaps refreshing group chats waiting for the Screening/Post-UTME result to be released? Drop it in the comments—you never know, your words might encourage another aspirant who feels like giving up.

🙏 I pray, may your expectations not be cut short as you await that moment of joy. May your name be among the admitted, and may your dream find its place in reality. Can I hear an Amen?

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DREAM IN THE DUST