HOW I MET THE GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE AT A VERY TENDER AGE

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HOW I MET THE GOVERNOR OF MY STATE, LAGOS STATE @ AGE 12(YEAR 2012)
dphenomenalmarv (25)in #stories • 3 hours ago (edited)
I had always loved writing ever since I was a kid. I'm thankful for attending a government school where opportunities which you can't get in a private University were readily available.

One of it was the annual essay competition organized by the LAGOS STATE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (LIRS) on How tax payers taxes are utilized for the betterment of the state.

While other candidates were searching on Google, giving to their elder ones, I was left alone on my own, writing what I knew, God helping me. I couldn't even search on Google because I didn't have access to a phone. On the day of submission, the paper I wrote my essay on tore a bit and I just had to submit like that.
In all these, I wasn't even expecting to be selected.

One beautiful afternoon during the long break in school, I was summoned to the staff room and my heart was racing. Usually, you were only called to the staff room either to be made or marred. Different thoughts of what will either make or mar me, were running through my mind.

Surprisingly, I got to the staff room and was welcomed amidst cheers and applauds. I was literally shock! The teachers were congratulating me, shaking my hands while I was looking like a moron.
"You've been selected to represent the school at the state level via the essay you submitted", one of the teachers said. I smiled not knowing what to say. I had mixed feelings because I was an introvert. One part of me was happy, while the other part was afraid. The teachers suddenly became nice to me because I had to really practice my essay hard, and defend it at the state level.

I practised day and night, stood in front of the mirror and did all other rituals to bring up the boldness in me but to no avail. I went through series of practices but I still wasn't able to get the whole essay from beginning to end. It was either I stopped halfway or skipped some parts.

The D-Day came and a teacher followed me to the venue, it was the LIRS venue. I did the best I could after some motivation from my teacher who even had to turn her face away when it was my turn to defend my essay. All in all, I still fucked up, towards the end of my speech, and I was visibly shaking as I had never done such in my life before. Plus, I was the very shy and naive type, an introvert, like I said earlier.

We were all given gifts with the LIRS LOGO printed on them which included a flask, a beautiful wristwatch, vests, etc, and an invitation letter to a dinner with the Governor and his entourage.

On our way back, my teacher told me that I took either the third or fourth position and that they were going to give just the 1st –3rd position more gifts. She also told me about one girl who was shorter than me but very sharp. My heart bled. I was just hoping that I would get something out of it although chances were very slim. I regretted being raised indoors, being an introvert and being shy.

The dinner day came and we walked to the avenue few minutes before the event began. It was a strictly by invitation party and everywhere was filled with glamour and Elegance when we entered the hall.
A music band was playing and a shirt while after, the Governor and his entourage walked in. They were welcomed and food was served shortly after. There were different delicacies but I couldn't focus because I was waiting for the result announcement.

The big time finally came and the results was called from the third position. I was very nervous, I closed my eyes, my heart beating fast. "We have some students amongst us, who wrote very beautiful essays as regards what Lagos State is doing with tax payers' money and the third on the list is Akin...............", My heart pounded heavily.
"Oh no!", I muttered regrettably. My teacher looked at me and tried to comfort me but my heart was ripped at that point. 150k in 2012 is close to 700k or a million now. That was the price for the third position with a computer system and other consolation prizes.

I waited to see the second position. It was a blind boy. I hated myself at that moment for having a complete body. In my mind I was like,"you with a complete body can't even get the third place.

Then came the 1st position. It was the shirt sharp girl my teacher talked about the other day . #250,000 just for sharpness and confidence. I learnt my lesson the hard way.
Maybe that's why I'm very extroverted now because I now know that being shy and introverted doesn't pay.

Attached to my story are images of part of the gifts I received.

What did you learn from my story?