Pure Water Hawker Scores 309 In UTME, Gets Scholarship

A teenager who hawks pure water, Ugwu Chibuzo Augustus, has emerged as one of the highest scorers in the last Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.

According to JAMB, Augustus is among the 0.5% of candidates who scored over 300 in the examination nationwide.

Out of the 1.94 million who sat for the examination, only 8,401 out of the 1,842,464 results released as of last week got over 300 marks.

An X user, Alex Onyia: @winexviv, revealed the impressive result of Augustus, who is now preparing to write the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, two years after he left school.

Onyia wrote: “This youngster from my village Ugwu Chibuzo Augustus scored 309 in JAMB. 

“He left school 2 years ago and has been selling pure water in the streets.

This youngster from my village Ugwu Chibuzo Augustus scored 309 in JAMB. He left school 2 years ago and has been selling pure water in the streets.

We convinced him to join the JAMB prep program with a promise that he will get a scholarship if he scores above 300. He took up… pic.twitter.com/VP7ln282SV

— Alex Onyia (@winexviv) May 5, 2024

“We convinced him to join the JAMB prep program with a promise that he will get a scholarship if he scores above 300.

“He took up that challenge. 

“He comes to classes during the day and goes back to sell his pure water after the day’s classes.

“During the monthly assessments, he has been consistent with good scores and right now he made it. 

“He has now been enrolled in our full scholarship program.

“He will be rewriting his WAEC from next week because he feels he is prepared enough to do it because of the intense training he gained since September.

“Interestingly some of the students who did well in science said that Chibuzo usually stays back to explain further to them what was taught in class before he leaves for the day to sell pure water.

“He also created a study group with his classmates where he coaches them on weekends, and all of them scored high. 

“The group comprised of those whom were desperately determined to score above 300 and get the scholarship. 

“They became close friends and studied together always.”

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