By Cletus Opukeme
For many people, the road to academic excellence begins in the comfort of a stable family, continues through uninterrupted schooling and eventually leads to a university degree. But for Tife Owolabi, the journey was anything but conventional. His story is one of hardship, resilience, determination and an unshakable belief that one’s circumstances of birth should never become a permanent definition of one’s destiny.
Today, Owolabi can proudly say that he may be the first person in his lineage to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree. Yet, his academic journey began from a place far removed from the university lecture halls and research libraries where he would eventually find himself. After completing primary school, financial difficulties forced his parents to make a difficult decision. His father, faced with numerous family responsibilities, could no longer shoulder the full burden of his education. Owolabi was therefore sent to learn a trade—what was commonly described in local parlance as “handwork” and in his case, automobile mechanics.
For a while, he obeyed his parents and remained in the trade. But the young Owolabi eventually ran away from home. Life outside the family became harsh and unforgiving. He found himself sleeping under bridges and working as a bus conductor, experiencing firsthand the struggles that confront young people without the privilege of sustained education or family support. But adversity did not extinguish his desire to learn. Instead, it awakened something within him. One day, Owolabi made the courageous decision to return home and begin rebuilding his life. He took up photography as a means of livelihood, earning his own income while simultaneously searching for a pathway back into education. With remarkable determination, he hired a private teacher to teach him. He began preparing himself academically and eventually sat for his General Certificate Examination. It was a major turning point. The young man who had once slept under bridges and worked as a bus conductor was gradually finding his way back to the classroom. His educational journey was not smooth. He attended evening classes during the first two years after primary school but later abandoned his studies. In 1996, however, he returned to the classroom with renewed determination and intensive coaching. Despite his disadvantaged educational background, he succeeded in the GCE examinations, eventually making up the required subjects across three sittings. Still unwilling to settle for what he considered an incomplete academic record, Owolabi returned to the examination hall in 1999 and obtained the required result in a single sitting. That became the result he continued to use, because, as he explained, he never particularly liked the idea of combining results from different sittings. The following year, in 2000, another important chapter began. Owolabi gained admission into Lagos Polytechnic, where he studied and eventually graduated in 2003. But even after obtaining his diploma, his academic ambition remained alive.
For nearly a decade, he did not return to university for a degree. Then, in 2012, he made another decisive move. From that point onward, his educational journey became remarkably consistent and back-to-back. He earned a BSc in Public Administration, followed by a PGD in Mass Communication, an MSc in Political Science and, ultimately, the coveted PhD. The contrast between where Owolabi started and where he stands today is striking. From a boy whose education was interrupted by financial hardship, to a runaway who slept under bridges; from a bus conductor struggling to survive to a photographer financing his own education; and from a young man fighting his way back into the classroom to a scholar earning a doctorate—the journey represents the extraordinary power of perseverance.
For Owolabi, however, his story is more than a personal achievement. It is a message to young Africans who may feel trapped by poverty, family circumstances, educational setbacks or the mistakes of their past. Reflecting on his experience, he says the story is particularly relevant in African societies where failure or prolonged hardship is sometimes interpreted through the lens of what the Yoruba describe as “ogun idile”—a family battle, sometimes attributed to witches, wizards or inherited spiritual forces.
While acknowledging that people may hold different beliefs about such matters, Owolabi’s own experience has taught him another powerful lesson: with faith in God, determination and perseverance, people can overcome circumstances that appear to have been predetermined for them.
His story challenges the popular assumption that one’s beginning must determine one’s ending. A difficult childhood does not necessarily produce a difficult future. Poverty may delay a dream, but it does not have to destroy it. Failure may interrupt a journey, but it does not have to become its destination. Today, the journey has reached a remarkable milestone. Tife Owolabi is officially a PhD holder.
His achievement is therefore not simply about acquiring another academic qualification. It is a testimony to the human capacity to rise after falling, to begin again after failure and to pursue a dream long after others may have given up.
His life offers a powerful lesson to parents, educators, policymakers and young people across Nigeria: sometimes, the person who appears least likely to succeed may only need an opportunity, determination and the courage to keep moving.
Owolabi’s story began in a difficult place, but it did not end there. From the streets to the classroom, from bus conductor to scholar, and from interrupted schooling to a doctorate, his life has become a compelling reminder that your starting point does not have to determine your finishing point.
“It has been a long, difficult and unconventional journey,” Owolabi reflects, “but God has been faithful.” And indeed, his journey is a story of faith, resilience and the triumph of determination over circumstance.
Dr. Tife Owolabi defied the odds of being born from a poor family background of not born with a silver spoon. But he carved one for himself through determination, perseverance, resilience and above all nature was kind to him. Where is the popular school of thought of the ”African family or village witches”? when goal setting, enthusiasm or burning desire of being great is higher than an idle complaining lifestyle and laziness?
He engaged in investigative and ethical journalism and had spent several years in both local and international journalism.
Opukeme, is the Chief Editor/ Publisher of Daily watch