Galaxies of Nigerian stars blazing abroad

Anne-Marie Imafidon, 27, was decorated recently by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the prestigious honour of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)—for helping young women follow a career in Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Imafidon obviously didn’t get the British honour because she is a gender-equality head banger. She did because she’s got brains.

She was the youngest girl to ever pass two GCSE examinations for Mathematics and Information Technology and A-level computing at the age of 11 in Britain. That earned her a British Scholarship to study Mathematics at John Hopkins University at the age of 13 in 2003. At 15, in 2005, she started a degree program at the University of Oxford. At 17, she started a master’s degree at Oxford University graduating at 19 in June 2010.

Imafidon eventually became the youngest ever graduate with a master’s degree. Career-wise, she has been to places in her young life–Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Bank, and Lehman Brothers.

This young Nigerian is only one of the many good things that ever come out of the giant of Africa.There are scads of other wunderkinds, out of Nigeria, rocking the worlds of science, technology business, sports, and academics.

In the U.S. is an 18-year-old Nigerian, Harold Ekeh, from Elmont Memorial High School, who hit headlines for gaining admission into eight Ivy League schools in the United States of America at the same time in 2013.

Ekeh said he wanted to study biochemistry and become a neurosurgeon. Inspired by his grandmother who began showing symptoms of Alzheimer’s when he was 11, he hopes to find a cure for the ailment.

In the U.K is Gerald Ezekwem called ‘Jerry Jack’. He had his secondary education at Evangel Secondary School in Kano, and went to the UK where he completed his programme at Lancaster University in Lancaster. He bagged a first-class honours in mechatronics engineering.

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa, a 22-year-old Nigerian made history at John Hopkins University, U.S. During the institution’s graduation in 2015, Emmanuel, who hails from Abia, was adjudged as having the highest honours, making a Grade Point Average of 3.98 out of a possible 4.0 to bag a degree in Neurosciences in the University.

Emmanuel was born in Lagos, Nigeria and attended Lilly Fields Primary School, Lagos. He left Nigeria after his Junior Secondary School education at Air Force Comprehensive School, Ibadan, Oyo State.

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For his efforts, he won a scholarship to Yale University to pursue a degree in Medicine and was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Society, a prestigious honour group that features membership of 17 US Presidents, 37 US Supreme Court Justices, and 136 Nobel Prize winners.

At 22 again, another Nigerian, In University of Reading, United Kingdom, made a name for herself. Osarieme Anita bagged a first class honour from the university, making her the first black woman to win the Reading University Chancellor’s Award in the history of the institution’s 121 years of existence.

Omonuwa received six prizes from the school, ranging from: Student of the year, Best female graduating student, to Council of Legal Education Star Prize, amongst others.

These exploits extend to the fareast. In Japan, Ufot Ekong, has been making waves. In his first semester at Tokai University, Japan, he solved a mathematical puzzle which students have failed to solve for more than 30 years. The 24-year-old Ekong also broke a 50-year old academic record by graduating as the ‘Best All Rounder’ with a first-class degree in Electrical Engineering. He also scored the highest grades the university had witnessed in 50 years.

Dr Victor Olalusi was one of Nigeria’s brightest students in Russia. He was once honoured by Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education for being an ambassador of excellence. As a medical student, he scored a 5.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) for seven consecutive years at the Russian National Research Medical University (RNRMU), Moscow.

For this, he was recognised as the best graduating student in the whole Russian Federation in 2013. Even in Russian Language class, he maintained 5.0.

Olalusi original left a trail of excellence behind in Nigeria: Best WAEC Student in Nigeria in 2004. He won Cowbell Award in 2006, Highest Post UME score at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in 2006 and OAU Medicine First Merit list in 2006.

For this, Artem Romanov, a representative of the Russian Embassy in Nigeria, couldn’t help but comment about the most populous black nations. “It has been acknowledged in the Russian Ministry of Education that Nigerians have a lot of exceptional talents”, the representative said.

That fact is almost commonplace.

The riddle yet ti be solved is why Nigeria leaves its potentials to be realised in foreign lands.