...IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT....

Hi there!

How are you doing today? I hope you’re doing good, and that God continues to be with you.

Welcome to today’s gist.

I submitted my project today. 

As I was on my way to submit my project, I remembered when, in 2019, I would sit in my Chambers Office and watch Sir Chinedu working on his project, it seemed like it was something so far away and so daunting. I honestly feared from that time that I was going to be so overwhelmed with doing the project and I would ultimately not do a good job. Make I shock you? I didn’t even remember how much I feared the project until I was done with the project.

Now this entire project thing may not sound like a big deal, but it was huge! Stay with me, let’s talk.

When I got to final year, one of the first things that I had to start thinking of was what my project would be. The only thing I was sure of at the time was that I wanted to write on some aspect of International Humanitarian Law. But for some reason, I couldn’t pick a particular aspect. I spoke to my seniors and they gave me really wonderful suggestions that while I was grateful for, I didn’t exactly understand how I was going to go about.

Let me just back up and tell you that though I took a course on Research in 400 level, and passed the course well, the entire concept of conducting legal research didn’t seem to stick, I constantly felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, and believe me when I tell you that I was winging it till the end of the project.

I remember the day I got the first topic for my project proposal: it was a Sunday. I had come back from Church and was feeling sleepy so I decided to get some rest, after all it was Sunday. Just before I slept, and I don’t even think I was thinking about the project matter sef, I received a topic -from God, I dare say. What did I do? I told God that if He really was the one that gave me the topic, then He should please remind me of the topic when I woke up and that if I remembered the topic when I woke up, I would know that He wanted me to submit it; imagine me oh! Something that I would have just sat up to write, I didn’t. I woke up a few hours later and without even struggling, I remembered the topic! In my mind, I told myself that I had one topic down, one more to go.

Then strike happened.

During that period, I grew even more fascinated and in love with Britain, the British Monarchy and Queen Liz (as I am mostly prone to call her). I knew then that if I ever was going to be doing any comparison in my project, Britain would have to be involved. Unfortunately, the Queen died before I even got to submit my project proposal, but that didn’t deter me.

When we resumed from the strike, I began to look for a second topic to submit. At that point, I began to see so many potential areas that my mind was really overwhelmed; it seemed like everyone except me knew what they were doing concerning the project. Then one day I, uncharacteristically, followed my friends to the Library. And as I pored through materials, I saw a textbook written by one Brit on Refugee law in the United Kingdom, it just clicked immediately! Refugees, displaced persons generally, have been a group of people who I worried secretly for, and of course there was Great Britain inside. As I was doing that internal jubilation, I saw something on Environmental Law and that began to appeal to me also, I was back to my state of confusion.

I sent the three topics I had to my senior friends to help me puck the most viable two. The Environmental Law topic was unanimously voted out and I was left with my original topic from that Sunday, it was on the efficacy of the United Nations Convention against Torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment in the war between Nigeria and the Boko Haram sect, and the new refugee topic, which was to be a comparative analysis of the refugee laws of Nigeria, the US and the UK.

They spoke to me again and asked me to narrow my topic again to one aspect of the Refugee law and to pick one Country between UK and the US to compare with. The fact that it would be the UK wasn't even debatable, the topic then became a comparative analysis of the laws on the grant of refugee status in Nigeria and in the UK.

I consulted with a lecturer and submitted my project proposal about one hour to the deadline for submission, I no too serious like that.

The project proposals were not approved until two months later and as it turned out, it was the refugee topic that got approved.

I called my Supervisor and she told me to bring my Chapterization to her office. I prepared the Chapterization and took it to her office. After that, she didn’t seem to be anywhere and me sef I lost my ginger to do the project. At least one of my Senior friends would ask me every other week what the status was regarding my project and my answer was always that I would answer the question next week.

And that my dear gist mate is what would be happening with this gist. I will complete it next week, for now just please enjoy this gist as well as all our previous gist. We will continue till next week.

See you next week.

Love, 

Achenyo.