Despite lack of capital to see it through, among other challenges, many Nigerians continue to seek the proverbial Golden Fleece overseas. IFEDAYO OGUNYEMI reports on how one NGO is helping young Nigerian graduates win fully-funded scholarships in foreign universities.
After Joy Amadi emerged as the overall best graduating student during the 2018/19 convocation set at the Federal University, Lokoja, her dream of studying further overseas, hung in the limbo.
According to the International Consultants for Education and Fairs (ICEF) Monitor, about 100,000 Nigerian students were enrolled abroad in 2020 in spite of the challenges they faced. The ICEF also noted that Nigeria has grown to become one of the most sought-after markets for student recruiters in major destination countries because of its large youth demographics and expanding middle class.
But not everyone gets to join thousands of Nigerians studying abroad due to lack of funds to complete the process and also funding of such programmes which come at a high cost, among other challenges such as macroeconomic trends, monetary policies, the ease and speed of visa application processes, and the availability of post-study residency permits.
‘But I didn’t give up’
“I wasn’t sure I was going to school abroad because there was no fund to write the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) examination, pay for Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and for application fees. But I didn’t give up,” Joy Amadi, who later got seven fully-funded PhD scholarship admissions in US schools, told Achiever.
The first class graduate of Chemistry, who applied to 15 schools in the US and Canada since 2021, is almost certain she will pursue a PhD programme in organic synthesis at the University of Delaware.
“When I come back to Nigeria, I can take up teaching and research positions in academia while collaborating with industries and research institutes to help make sure that diseases termed as incurable become curable,” she said.
To achieve this topmost desire, Amadi was, in 2021, selected by a non-governmental organisation, the i-Scholar Initiative (iSI) to benefit from its graduate examinations scholarships. The scholarships cover the payment of required graduate school standardised test fees and predetermined graduate school application fees including GRE and TOEFL.
The Imo State indigene noted that “the iSI paid for my TOEFL and GRE examinations, I wrote and passed them.”
How I left my months-old daughter to write examinations
Among the 50 Nigerians who benefited from the iSI scholarship and mentorship programme in 2021 is a 30-year-old mother of one, Tosin Akintunde. Her constraint was majorly lack of funds to pursue her academics abroad until iSI covered the cost of her tests.
The graduate of industrial production engineering from the University of Ibadan (UI) hinged the success of getting four fully-funded scholarship offers out of five applications made on her support system.
“My husband was very supportive. My baby was barely three months old when I applied for the iSI application. While I was writing my TOEFL and GRE examinations, we were practically reading together. She was tearing my books and all of that. Before her first year’s birth anniversary, I had to leave her with someone for the whole day to go and write my examination,” Akintunde, who completed her undergraduate programme in 2016, noted.
She told Achiever that: “iSI held my hand all through. We were assigned mentors who followed up with our interactions with the professors to tell them about our interests. You can always reach out to any one of the mentors to ask questions even if they were not assigned to you. They encouraged us through the rejections.”
‘Foreign schools are not particular about your grades but research experience’
This kind of mentorship and encouragement also proved worthy for 24-year-old Oluwatobi Ogundepo who graduated with a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in Microbiology at the University of Lagos. His situation challenged the myth that only first-class graduates get to benefit from international graduate programmes.
“These graduate programmes are not about what you graduated with as they are in Nigeria,” he said. “They are particular about your research experience and what you want to do with such experience.”
At the Louisiana State University in Shreveport where he has been offered fully-funded PhD admission, Ogundepo’s research will focus on gene expression and regulation. He thanked iSI for providing a platform for leap from.
The iSI was founded as an NGO in the US and Nigeria in 2019 by Victor Ogunmola to broaden overseas opportunities for more prospective and self-motivated scholars across Nigeria.
Before the establishment of the NGO, Ogunmola had worked on a farm in order to stay afloat in school. His career trajectory changed after securing an overseas graduate scholarship. His past struggles and this scholarship award motivated him to help other Nigerians seeking foreign education opportunities.
Since 2019, iSI has awarded scholarships with an investment of about $80,000 (N33.3 million) in payments for graduate school standardised tests and application fees for 120 Nigerians who have been able to access over $10 million (N4,157 billion) in university scholarships globally.
“That is certainly a return on investment (ROI) to be proud of,” Ogunmola said.
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The previous beneficiaries of the programme, according to Ogunmola, authored a book for the use of thousands of prospective scholars seeking graduate programme opportunities. He added that “we are equally inspired by the drive of our scholars. They have begun to pay it forward.”
By September 2022, about 60 beneficiaries of the programme in the 2021 cohort will be in the USA and Canada to continue their studies.
Rejected two admission offers in 2020 for eight in 2021
Before his selection by iSI, 25-year-old graduate of the University of Lagos, Adewale Babatunde, had got two offers to study petroleum engineering at two Texas universities in 2020 but his interests in semiconductor nanomaterials – a subsection of renewable energy – made him wait to reapply for the fall 2022 cycle in 2021.
“I increased the number of schools that I applied to from five in 2020 to 13 schools in 2021. The outcome now is eight fully-funded admission offers including one from an Ivy League school, Cornell University,” he told Achiever.
According to him, iSI is creating an investment in the future and dreams of young ones who aspire to contribute to the development of the country through research and advanced education.
Speaking on the iSI scholarship process, a partner and mentor with the initiative, Olatunji Fagbola, said “iSI will go through your credentials and match you up with mentors because before you can access these opportunities, you need an all-encompassing support system that involves resources, information, mentoring, funding.”
While admonishing the 2021 beneficiaries during a get-together organised for the scholars in Ikeja, Lagos State, iSI Board of Trustee (BoT) member, Mrs Iyabode Attah, urged them not to devalue Nigeria abroad in spite of the challenges bedevilling the country, noting that every country has its own peculiar issues and challenges.
“Even though people in this generation don’t say anything good about this country, these ones who are from humble backgrounds are already doing great things. It shows that my perception of this country is right. In 10 years time or less, you will see how much value they will bring to this country,” the retired engineer said.
Her statement buttresses the plans of 26-year-old Ebenezer Akinbobola who graduated as part of the top two percent in his department at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in 2019. Today, the University of Michigan has offered him admission with assurance of funding.
“When I’m done with my PhD programme in hydrological science, I want to come back to the country to make an impact in that sector and not just really through NIMASA (where I currently work) but also through other agencies,” he told Achiever. Akinbobola’s resolve was predicated on an illness he suffered as a teen from drinking contaminated water.
In his address at the event, the founder and president of the NGO, Ogunmola noted that the opportunities provided to these scholars wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the over 140 individual partners. The organisation’s greatest challenge is getting more funding from individuals and corporate partners/donors.
“Our stakeholders are united by a shared passion. This passion builds and empowers the next generation of leaders for overall development in Africa. Without our shared passion for the career growth of the self-driven and innovative i-Sholars, we wouldn’t have been here,” Ogunmola said.
and then