Chapter-by-Chapter summary of The Life Changer; This prose is necessary for students who are sitting for the JAMB examination and should be studied so as to stand a chance of passing the exams.
The Life Changer is the recommended text for JAMB 2023 and it is expedient that every student writing JAMB should read it. In as much as this is a concise summary, it is important to read the whole book.
The Life Changer; Chapter One
Bint, a five-year-old girl who is also the darling of the Ahmed family, tells her siblings about her experience with Mallam Salihu, her impatient social studies instructor, who frequently thinks he is an expert in every field. However, he received some jeers when Bint instructed him to respond “that is very excellent” in French in response to his question about how to say “good morning” in French. Mallam Salihu leaves Bint’s class and doesn’t come back till after break because he can’t translate “that is really good” in French. She and her siblings were laughing at her story when their mother walked into their room and joined them. She then exhorts them to accept Mallam Salihu’s humility in admitting his ignorance by asking the French mistress for help in responding to Bint’s inquiry rather than mocking him.
When Omar arrived with the news that he had been accepted to study law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, their talk transformed into a raging flood of views on life difficulties that affected Ummi’s children, especially Omar who had just been accepted to study law.
The Life Changer; Chapter Two
This chapter describes Ummi’s entrance to the university after she acceded to her father’s demand that she get married before she graduates. But before she even started at the university, her spouse made the decision to wed her. She describes how she first met Salma and how she felt humiliated for insulting the university representative at the faculty registration office. When Ummi went to see Dr. Samuel Johnson to acquire her matriculation number, she made an unpleasant gesture toward his hospitality. Later, she found out from her husband that Dr. Samuel Johnson was a close friend of his and was instrumental in securing her university admittance. Ummi felt awful and asked her husband to apologize on her behalf to Dr. Samuel Johnson.
The Life Changer; Chapter Three
In chapter three, Ummi uses the stories of the quiet one to correct her children, particularly Omar, her firstborn and only son who had recently been accepted into college. Talle was born and raised in Lafayette, and everyone in the neighborhood was aware of the details of his birth. Shortly after his birth, Talle lost his mother, and he wasn’t even twenty when he tragically lost both his father and stepmother in a vehicle accident. This encounter made him feel even worse about how much he had turned inward. Talle was so lonely that he put all of his energy into working as a driver at the local government office. But things suddenly take a dramatic turn for him one day when shoppers in the grocery store where he buys food noticed that his purchase had increased from what he usually buys. Realizing that Talle has no one to live with, the grocer alerted the District head, Hakimi, to the fact that Talle now purchases more food than he can consume in a week in days. Talle was invited by Hakimi to the palace for questioning.
However, Talle’s inability to respond to a straightforward query revealed that he was guilty of an offense about which no one was aware. The police, along with some military escorts, arrived at Hakimi’s palace as this was happening. They informed Hakimi that one of his subjects, Talle, was involved in extortion, armed robbery, and kidnapping. After being detained, Talle led the police to his home, where he had hidden his victim. He and Zaki were given a sentence of hard labor-filled years in jail.
The Life Changer; Chapter Four
In this chapter, Salma tells the tale of how, at the age of just 20, she managed to enroll in a university. This chapter’s significance comes from her contact with Dr. Dabo, who was the 100-level coordinator at the time.
Dr. Dabo is an extremely disciplined educator who has never interacted dishonestly with any female students. He is known for treating his students fairly. He never arrives late for lectures, and his only rule is, “Don’t enter after me.” But when Salma showed up at his workplace, he threw caution to the wind and didn’t anticipate what would happen when he asked her to become his close friend. Salma instantly rejects his request, which makes him feel so awful that he repents and swears never to let his guard down again. Salma received Amina Hall, the most well-known queen. She initially didn’t get along with her roommates, Ada, Ngozi, and Tomiwa. She despises the notion that she was forced to choose her roommate but afterward got along so well with them that they practically lived as sisters. On her way back from home one evening, Salma ran into Habib and Labaran at Kwangila. When they left her, Salma introduced herself as Tomiwa and provided them with Tomiwa’s phone number. They offer to drive her to the school’s campus.
The Life Changer; Chapter Five
The following day at 8 o’clock in the evening, Habib contacted Tomiwa to let her know that they were parked in front of her hostel and to ask her to come out so they could hang out. As Tomiwa left her hostel to meet Habib, she made the decision to satiate her curiosity. Habib was aware that Tomiwa was not the woman he had given a ride to the night before, though. Tomiwa realized that Salma had given them Tomiwa’s contact after confirming his assumptions. In addition to giving her 50,000 Naira and instructing her to give her roommate 10,000 Naira apiece while keeping the rest 20,000 Naira, Habib also instructed Labaran and Suya to fetch food for them. Tomiwa was astounded when she brought cash and a ton of things back to the hostel. As she and her roommate savored the chicken suya she prepared, they started to ululate and yell with delight. When Ada and Ngozi intervened, Salma’s mild jealousy didn’t turn into a chasm between her and Tomiwa and quickly vanished from memory.
Labaran and Habib were childhood pals. While Labaran chose to enroll in a driving school, Habib chose education. Labaran is Habib’s good friend and will occasionally help out with a little sum of money from his wages as a driver for the local government. However, to show his appreciation for his sporadic prior support, Habib hired his friend to serve as his driver after he entered politics.
The Life Changer; Chapter Six
The girls are in their final year of school, and the daily routine has resumed. It’s fascinating to see how none of the four girls let their engagement with men interfere with their academic performance. Even though they are all pursuing a different subject, they are at the top of their game and will all graduate with second-class higher degrees. Salma, unfortunately, finds it challenging to succeed in moral philosophy, one of the easier courses. Since it was a broad course, she abstained from attending class along with other pupils. Salma learned to her detriment that she was the only one not writing when the invigilator distributed questions since the lecturer had disappointed her expectations. After some while, she started bugging Kolawole Abdul, the gentleman seated next to her, for help. He initially protested, but eventually gave in and wrote down a coded response to the first two questions. The female invigilator was astounded by Salma’s unexpected inspiration to write after she had been present for more than thirty minutes without writing as she was busy copying from the notes of salvation. Before calling her attention and that of the security guard outside the hall, she silently stepped behind her and observed where she was writing from for a few minutes. Kola and the female student sitting across from Salma on the opposite side were made to sign the EMAL form as witnesses after Salma was forced to do so. Kola was unfortunate since Salma accused him when she was called before the panel, which resulted in his expulsion from the institution.
The Life Changer; Chapter Seven
In this chapter, Salma tells her friend Tomiwa that she believes in talking to Labaran and asking Hon. Habib for help will help her get out of her current situation. Unfortunately for her, Professor Dabo is the only powerful individual he knows who could be of assistance.
Salma was devastated to learn that Professor Dabo, whom she had denigrated in her l00 level, was actually the one who could aid her when he asked for his girlfriend. She begged Honourable Habib for money right away so she could bribe the EMEC chairman, whom she said would sell his mother’s soul for cash. She prepared to meet with the Chairman of the EMEC in a hotel after receiving the money from Habib and merely offered him 100,000 Naira. Dr. Mohammed Kabir is the Chairman of the EMEC. At the panel, she later learned that Dr. Kabir was a fraud who had duped her. He is not the head of the EMEC and is not even a lecturer at the university.
The Life Changer; Chapter Eight
This chapter provides a summary of Dr. Mohammad Kabir’s path to becoming a doctor. It was a moniker he had been given in high school. He worked as a laboratory technician at the university, but thanks to his friendliness, he also developed close relationships with all the important figures there.
Salma sobbed to Labaran after telling him about her experience of being duped by a fraud. After having significant gambling success with the money he had obtained from Salma, Labaran hired Zaki to pursue Mohammad Kabir and reclaim a sum of 300,000 naira from him.
The identity of the person who hired Zaki to kidnap Alhaji Adamu’s son was also revealed in this chapter. Honorable Habib gave Zaki the order to deal with Alhaji Adamu by kidnapping his son, but when Zaki tried to cover up the incident with the police and secure Talle’s release, he stumbled and almost lost millions of dollars.
The Life Changer; Chapter Nine
In chapter nine, Ummi describes Salim’s experience using a smartphone as Salma’s fiancé. A horrific ordeal that nearly took his life. On one social media site, he met a woman by the name of Natasha. Their scheduled meeting day ends up being a terrible experience. She stated she wouldn’t be permitted to leave in the afternoon, so Salim agreed to visit her at exactly nine in the evening.
Salim, however, came to the conclusion that Natasha was merely a piece of kidnapping and arm-robbery bait after the outcome of their meeting. He miraculously avoided the trap Natasha and her thugs had created for him.
