Former Dean of the Faculty of Science of Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Duro Adegboye has recalled his growing up years; citing how he had to hawk banana to fight poverty.
Adegboye an octogenarian is the President of Gospel Unlimited based in Offa, Kwara State. He is a widely traveled missionary evangelist with a burning passion for souls.
The genesis of his travail in life according to him started in 1955 when he lost his father. “I was in Standard 4 of the Senior Primary School then when my father died. That became a challenge as my mother could not afford to foot my school bill. I had to hawk bananas along Oloffa Way and Ibrahim Taiwo Road in Offa, so I could pay my way to Standard 5 in 1956.”
But it soon became obvious that it may not be easy to continue doing that.
God came through for him when the headmaster of his school, Mr J. A Williams told his mother to consider allowing him to take the entrance examination to secondary schools while in Standard 5. “The headmaster said if I did well in the exams he would recommend me for a scholarship award. As God would have it, I did very well in the Entrance Examination to St Paul’s College, Wusasa, Zaria.
“I was awarded a full scholarship: Tuition and Fees, Hostel Accommodation, Sunday and School Uniforms, the three Meals, and All the Text Books for each Class were supplied Free of Charge. I was given 26 shillings each term for the Train Journey from Zaria to Offa and Offa back to Zaria”
Adcegboye who runs regular training for missionaries at his Offa base said it was the scholarship that made it possible to pursue his education because there was no way his mother would have been able to afford the school fees for his education.
While emphasising that grace played a central role in his emancipation in life, he said the scholarship spanned through his education from secondary school to when he earned his PhD. “I got scholarships for secondary school, for pre-varsity school (HSC) for a Bachelor’s degree, for a Master’s degree, and for my Doctorate which I got in 1975,”
He said further that he was offered a lecturing job on a platter of gold. “I was offered the job of an Assistant Lecturer in my alma mater, Ahmadu Bello University, in October 1968. Then the Journey up began, by the grace of God. I rose from there to become a lecturer 3, lecturer 2, lecturer 1, senior lecturer, reader, and then a professor in 1985”
He was appointed Head of The Department of Biological Sciences, ABU, and later elected Dean of the Faculty of Science of the same university. Both department and faculty were considered the largest in Black Africa as at the time he was the dean.
Professor Adegboye abandoned his academic attainment in the early 90s. He took early retirement from ABU and gave his all to missions. He resisted the temptation of taking a lecturing job in the US after his PhD at the University of Illinois because he said he had made a vow to come back to Nigeria to do missions.
He told Church Times that the story of his life as a missionary evangelist and his experience serving the Lord for over 60 years are being put together in a memoir
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