PHOTO CREDIT: Photo courtesy of Dr. Chigozie Chukwu / The Sun Nigeria
From 9 WAEC Failures and 7 UTME Attempts to UK Professor: The Inspiring Story of Dr. Chigozie Chukwu
What started as a story of repeated academic failure has become a story of resilience and triumph.

Dr. Chigozie Chukwu, who failed the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) exam nine times and wrote the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) seven times before gaining admission, is now an Assistant Professor and Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA) at the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom.

Born in Lagos, Chukwu lost his father at a very young age. Growing up in a large family with limited resources, he had to do menial jobs to survive while struggling academically from primary school through secondary school.

He describes those years as painful, filled with neglect and discouragement. Even people who should have supported him had written him off. What kept him going, he says, was stubbornness, faith, and purpose.
“I learned to separate people’s opinions from my potential. The discouragement hurt, but it became fuel.”
Two women anchored him during that period: his mother, who prayed for him daily, and Mrs. Mercy Okorie, who counselled him, fed him, and continued to buy his JAMB forms year after year when others said he had wasted enough chances.

He eventually gained admission to study Economics at the University of Abuja, where he graduated with Second Class Upper in 2011. To fund himself, he tutored classmates, ran a weekend tutorial centre, and traded brocade fabrics between Abuja, Kano and Lagos. He later returned to the same university for his MSc in Economics (2015-2017).

In 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown, he left Nigeria for his PhD in the UK. He arrived to empty airports, online classes, and months of isolation — an experience he says taught him adaptability and self-discipline.

Today, he has risen from Associate Lecturer to Assistant Professor. While he values his PhD, he says his most meaningful milestone is becoming a Senior Fellow of Advance HE, which recognizes teaching excellence and student impact — a full-circle moment for someone once told he would never make it.

That history shapes his teaching philosophy, built on access, empathy and high expectations. His research in development economics and public finance focuses on how Nigeria can spend wisely, reduce its massive informal economy, and link budgets to real outcomes in health, education and infrastructure.

His advice to Nigerian policymakers is blunt:
“What Nigeria needs is execution, not more policy announcements. Nigeria does not lack potential; we lack execution.”
Outside academia, Dr. Chukwu writes children’s educational books and mentors young people — he says he has spoken to over 500 youths in the last 60 days alone — with one goal: to lift others as he climbs.

His message remains simple: Where you start does not have to determine where you finish.
SOURCE: The Sun Nigeria