Alvina Amobi is an outstanding law graduate who has made the University of Nigeria proud of her exceptional academic achievements.
Emerging with a first class degree from the prestigious Faculty of Law, she has demonstrated unwavering dedication, intellectual brilliance, and a passion for the law.
With a remarkable academic record, Alvina has consistently showcased exceptional critical thinking, analytical skills, and a deep understanding of legal principles.
Please introduce yourself to our audience and readers. Also, tell us about your educational background
Okay, first of all, I’m pleased to be here. Like you said, my name is Avina Amobi. I’m a recent first class graduate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
A brief recap of my educational background. I attended Nigerian Navy Primary School. Then I attended St. Margaret’s Comprehensive College in Lagos. In 2018, I gained admission to study law at the University of Nigeria.
Due to the ASUU strike, the little break, and all that Nigeria presented us, I studied for 6 years instead of 5 and graduated this year with a first class degree. Thank you.
Thank you for that brief introduction. Nigeria happens to us most of the time, so we relate. So when you were in school, was there a particular course or major you found challenging?
Hmm, so generally, I think law is a very challenging discipline. Back in the day, say 100 level and 200 level, there were courses I found really stressful at the time.
But as I progressed, I found out that, oh, that course wasn’t really that hard. I think it just comes with the course and maybe life generally.
As you progress, you find out that what you found most challenging in a particular time wasn’t, and all you needed was time to understand and come out from that challenging moment. So yeah, there were courses I found challenging.
There were courses I heard from senior colleagues that you don’t really pass. This course, if you get an A there’s fire in your head and all of those things, you know. I think I tried to work without fear because most of the time, failure is caused by fear.
You’re scared of failing, so you just fail. So I always tried to tell myself that I am going to surpass it. I’m going to get this with ease. And yeah, that was how I was able to move out of challenges.
Thank you so much for that. So apart from courses, what were the other obstacles and challenges that you faced while you were in school and how did you address them?
Okay, so that’s an interesting question to start with. When I got into school in 2018, I told myself that I wasn’t just going to be an academic student.
I was going to be excellent in every other area. I was going to let school pass through me and not just pass through school. So that came with quite a challenge. I went into politics while in school.
I did a couple of internships in law firms and a financial firm, and all of that. I led. I was the president of the University of Nigeria’s Student Bar Association. I did all of these things and they all came with responsibilities.
There was a need to find a balance. That need was very challenging. You know, distractions are inevitable, but then when you regulate them, you benefit from them. So in school, I tried to balance it up. How I was able to achieve that, first of all, God.
I would always run to God. Even in the fellowship, I held a couple of positions. At some point, I was the academic coordinator for the Christian Law Students Fellowship of Nigeria at UNN. So while I go to God, I’ll tell God, I cannot lead your people in the area of academic excellence and not be academically excellent.
That was one of my prayer points. Another thing I did was to set my priorities straight. I wrote them down… That’s to show you how intentional I was. I wrote down my priorities and at every point I carried out that exercise, my academics were always number one.
There was nothing that was going to come in between me and my academics. Once I noticed that you’re trying to share that space with my academics, I just brought it down. At every point, I tried to remind myself of the reason why I was in school.
The fact that I wanted to make myself proud by being academically excellent. I needed to make my parents proud, people who believed in me. And one thing being academically outstanding has taught me is that if you prioritize your academics and you excel, naturally things will flow to you if you want them.
Aside from the general challenge of a Nigerian student schooling in Nigeria, these were the major challenges I faced.
But I was able to find a resolution and I knew there were times I didn’t get grades that I desired to get because something clashed in the way.
I mean, they say you cannot always eat your cake and have it, but I tried as much as possible to balance the portion of my cake so that I would eat it and also have it.
Thank you. I’ll be using that line from now on. So I would like to know what motivated you to go into the field that you are in now. Why did you study law?
Okay, my mom would usually tell me while growing up that I was born to be a lawyer. Back then I would just laugh it off.
Growing up, when I decided for myself that I wanted to be a lawyer, I decided to ask her why she usually made that statement. And she told me that when I was a little kid, the moments that I don’t have full recollection of, I would always try to bring peace to any situation.
For instance, when children are fighting or something, I’m always the one to come and say please don’t fight. I’m always, like, settling it and all of that.
So that was one of the reasons that she made the statement. Personally, I don’t think there was ever a doubt of whether I was going to study law. It was always law for me.
I knew from the beginning. I knew when I got into secondary school that there was no second choice. It was either going to be law or law for me. I think I have the passion. I have a passion for law.
So I want you to tell us… How did you balance reading to get knowledge, to gain knowledge, and studying to get good grades?
Okay. I would not dispute the fact that we cram things.I mean, we have sections and cases to read. But I’m a lover of knowledge.
Most of my colleagues back in the day thought I was going to go into lecturing because I like to teach. And you cannot teach something that you don’t know, right? Yeah. One of the things I did back then was I never missed classes on purpose.
The times I would say I missed classes was when I went for, say, a competition or something in that regard. And I think it really helped me because I would describe myself as a class person. I need to hear the lecturer speak. It gives me that foundational understanding of the concept.
With the foundational understanding, it means that when I’m reading my books I won’t be hearing those things for the first time. I think at the end of the day, if everyone is being honest, it all depends on what works for you.
There are people that weren’t for classes, but they knew what worked for them and they did that. But in general, I think this is a technique that works. So with my foundational understanding, I go back to my books. There are times in the day that works best for me.
Back in school, from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. you can easily find me reading. Now arriving at that point where I knew what works for me didn’t come easy. There was a period I was going for night classes, but it didn’t pay off positively. I didn’t see the result I was hoping to see.
I needed to find something that works for me. So I started the early morning reading. I found out that I can actually stay inside the four walls of my room and I’ll get a grasp of what this concept is all about. Another thing that worked for me was group discussions.
So my friends are pretty academically outstanding too, and it was quite easy to gather them around and have discussions and share ideas. Most of the time you think you understand something, but when you have a discussion with somebody you find out that your understanding is quite shallow.
They present a different perspective on the whole concept and everyone benefits. That was really helpful. Like I said initially, we cannot eliminate the cramming aspect. You need to cram.
Understanding makes it easier because if you cram without understanding, you can go to the exam hall and zoom out. I never had that experience because, to a great extent, I tried to understand concepts and not just cram them.
Okay, okay. So you know when someone graduates with first class, people just believe that you have great opportunities before you. So I was wondering, being before someone that has one, is that true?
Okay. Right now, I’m not actually licensed to practice law. I still have law school. That’s why the situation might differ for law students because this is like a waiting period.
Law school also presents its own challenges and you still need to make an impression. But I think being generally academically outstanding has benefits. Number one, having this interview with you, if I am not mistaken, is a plus.
Last two weeks, I had an interview with a popular newspaper blog. It’s not yet published. That is a plus too. And say in the future, if I want to broaden my horizons and apply for scholarships to further my education, this is a plus for me.
I don’t think there is any undermining factor of being a first-class graduate. It has opportunities. Maybe they are not in my face at this stage, but it’s something that doesn’t have a duration. It’s going to run with me for the rest of my life. I think that is a benefit.
So if you want to, you know, further your education, whether it’s in Nigeria, whether it’s outside Nigeria, what course are you looking into and why?
I have an interest in finance, taxation, consulting and everything around it. I’m still keeping my options open. I have a long way to go.
Like I said, I have law school. I don’t want to place limitations on myself regardless of my interests. So, that is a decision that I’m yet to make.
When I get to that bridge or close to the bridge, I should have solved that question by then.
Can you tell us about a project or a research work that you did that you’re very, very proud of?
I should just tell you about my undergraduate thesis in simple language. I wrote on Tax Incentives, Infrastructure Financing, and the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 9 in Nigeria.
SDG 9 aims to promote innovation, infrastructure development, and industrialization. I tried to discuss the fact that Nigeria has a long way to go in achieving great industrialization, and there is no undermining the fact that industrialization plays a great role in the economic development of a country.
Let’s take a very basic example, transportation. We have bad roads. If transportation is difficult with focus on goods being transported by road, it already poses a challenge to production.
It slows the process down. And in the long run, these and other negative factors happening all at once would affect the general economic outcome of Nigeria. I also tried to relate the fact that the excessive tax system poses a challenge.
I mean, in Nigeria, we pay taxes and we don’t see the outcome of those taxes. Most of us don’t even pay taxes. On the other hand, the government and tax administrations have the power to provide tax incentives for businesses to thrive. Incentive says you don’t pay tax or you pay less tax because you’re carrying out a business which would in turn yield profits for Nigeria.
In Nigeria, we have existing tax incentives. The problem is with the administration. Are we administering these tax incentives? Is there a practice system or it is just a theory? My thesis tries to highlight the problem because I found out that Nigerians don’t even know some of these problems.
How do we figure out a solution if we don’t know about the problem? I highlighted the problem of administrative inefficiencies of taxation systems, the lack of infrastructural development and factors that might continue to hinder infrastructural development.
Then I also made recommendations and found a common ground because it’s not just a role for the government. All hands need to be on deck. I made a distinction on my project.
What were your experiences in school that you got to experience first-hand that influenced and helped in your development?
Okay. I think I got quite the experience back in school and all of those put together shaped me to be the person I am today.
In my 100 level, I was quite focused on just my books, even if I didn’t get my desired results in that level. I thought to myself, if I can focus on just my books and I don’t get my desired results, I think I should try to diversify while still focusing on my books and see how that works.
In 200 level, I went into politics. My first leg in politics was at the Students’ Union Government House of Representatives. I got elected and became a member.
I was not just a member, I was the chairperson of the Budget and Appropriation Committee, the committee in charge of negotiating the budget for the student community.
That came with some challenges, experiences, and perspectives. That year, with everything I put my hands into, I made a 5.0 GPA and that was more than the conviction that I could do more. In 300 level, I went for the Students’ Union Government Judiciary.
I was the Chief Registrar in charge of administrative functions of the student courts. Still, in 300 level, I became the Southeastern Coordinator for the Federation of African Law Students in Nigeria, That experience also gave me exposure.
I decided to engage students with purpose during the ASUU Strike. I wasn’t just thinking about myself. I think that is something leadership presents you. You just become a selfless person.
At that point, I noticed that most students were always complaining on Twitter and their WhatsApp statuses about how idle they were. I shared those worries too. I decided to organize a series of competitions for law students with attractive prizes, which was successful.
I was the academic coordinator for the Christian Law Students Fellowship of Nigeria at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. In that role, I organized tutorials for law students. I taught law students and simplified legal principles to make academic excellence open for everyone.
That was also successful. Coming to 400 level, I decided to run for Presidency for the University of Nigeria Students Bar Association.
There, I led all the student advocates of the University of Nigeria, organizing moot competitions, mock trial competitions, corporate presentations, and client counselling sessions, to train people in the area of advocacy, legal drafting, legal research, and so on.
I led the nine standing chambers that we have at UNN. I also led, in my capacity as president, a group of students to Kenya, particularly Kenyatta University, to deliver presentations on some Nigeria-themed issues.
Now, summarizing all of these experiences, I think it gave me the needed exposure and an understanding that my competition is global.
That perspective changed the way I approached things. I gained the necessary skills. I became selfless. I gained a collaborative spirit. It made me a better person having responsibilities.
I think being presented with responsibilities gave me courage, grit, and resilience to push forward, not just in those roles I occupied, but in other facets of my life, especially my academics.
