A Nigerian man, has braved the odds and risen above a challenge that some face while navigating through the world with a visual impairment.
Paul Okpanachi has gotten a scholarship to study in Canada through sheer hard work and dedication.
His friend, Samuel Ayankoso sent a message to Legit, narrating how they both met at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt, where Paul was on a scholarship.
According to Samuel, his buddie who is a graduate of Kogi State University, was very inspiring during their post-graduate studies. He revealed that Paul could even use a laptop with the help of a smart screen reader.
He said: “Before Paul left Nigeria in 2018 for his studies at AUC, he was an investigative journalist with the Kogi State news agency, and those at his workplace didn’t want him to come for his masters. Yet, their salaries were not paid consistently by the Yahaya Bello government.”
After finishing at the AUC with a CGPA of 3.67 CGPA, he returned to Nigeria where he has been facing a lot of problems. One night, his family was robbed and he had to try to fight them off.
“In fact, he has been a victim of the alarming insecurity in our country. This was what happened: Paul and his wife were robbed on a bad evening in front of their rented apartment in Abuja. They collected his wife’s phone and despite being blind, he tried his best to push the guys away from collecting his own phone too. Thank God he was not shot or harmed in the process,” Samuel narrated.
Then one day, blissful change came into his life as he was able to secure a fully-funded PhD scholarship at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
