Educational Feats of Nigerians in Diaspora: Food for Thoughts

Educational Feats of Nigerians in Diaspora: Food for Thoughts

The news of Nigerians spectacular educational performance in far away Howard University, Washington D.C, USA was joyously welcomed and celebrated by Nigerians in particular and Africans in general. Local and international media carried the news with various attractive captions; “Howard University: Nigerian students in the US excel, 16 bestowed special awards”, “Good news for Nigeria from Howard University” and similar titles. The story is that Nigerians captured the majority of the prizes presented during the Howard University 2016 graduation ceremony. Out of the 96 graduates with PhD in Pharmacy, 43 of them were Nigerians. Similarly, out of the 27 awards presented, 16 of such awards went to graduates who were Nigerians. The total number of graduates represented 46 states of America and 35 countries across the globe.  Yet, Nigerians collected 16 awards and left only 11 awards to graduates from 46 states in USA and 34 other countries. We were all elated as our compatriots at the Howard University in Washington DC made our nation proud by receiving special awards for excellence. The event took place during the convocation ceremony of the university on 7th May, 2016. It awarded more than 1,300 bachelor’s degrees, more than 300 master’s degrees, and over 100 PhDs. The top five areas of concentration were psychology, history, political science, social work and mathematics. Additionally, more than 400 students received professional degrees in law, medicine, pharmacy and dentistry.

The convocation ceremony was witnessed by important personalities across the globe including President Barrack Obama who described the university as "centerpiece of African-American intellectual life, and a central part of our larger American story". This is a clear outstanding record that has not been achieved by any other country in that University. Although, Howard is not an overall best university in USA, but it is a force to be reckoned as it has best undergraduate engineering and Business programmes, it ranks 403 of the World Universities by Academic Ranking as reported by Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), 2016. Howard is more than 150 years old; it was founded in 1867, as a private University with 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, two Truman Scholars, a Marshall Scholar, 30 Fulbright Scholars and 11 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on campus African-American PhD recipients than any other university in the United States. Howard has awarded more than 120,000 degrees and certificates in diverse areas of the arts, sciences, and humanities.  It is a female dominated university with 65% females and 35% males, highly rated with high competition for admission because of its diversity and cosmopolitan nature. This is attested in the University official website, "The University has an enduring commitment to the education and advancement of underrepresented populations in America and the global community. Howard University’s unique mission represents an unwavering commitment to its core values of leadership, excellence, truth and service"

Among the Nigerians awarded was !:: a 24-year-old graduate who excelled all through during her academic sojourn in Howard. She was honored with numerous awards and recognition at every level. During the graduation ceremony, she received the Howard University Department of Chemical Engineering Highest level of academic achievement award, Howard University Department of Chemical Engineering Wall Of Fame Award – with commentary as one of the best students the department ever came across in over 20 years of academic endeavors. She finally graduated with a Summa Cum Laude (first class). She was mentioned on the list of who is who within American Colleges and Universities. Finally, she was made the President of the National Engineering Honors Society by invitation only to top 8 of the junior class and top 5 of the senior class.

Before the events of 7th May, 2016 at Howard University, there were several other educational achievements made by Nigerians, an example is that of a Nigerian student at Harvard Business School in United States, Nneka Ezeigwe, who won the best prize in the School’s art competition. According to a statement, published on the school’s official website, each year they ask students a simple question, taken from the lines of a poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Mary Oliver. The question read: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” The Guardian reported that Ezeigwe’s response was the best one and she won “The Portrait Project”. She wrote: “‘Where are you from?’ this is a question I struggle to answer. I pause when asked, and finally mumble a response that feels roughly accurate. Truth is: I’m part tourist, part native in many places. I’m frequently described as ‘lucky’ to have been exposed to many enviable experiences globally. I feel lucky, mostly, but a big part of me wishes I had the choice to grow up in the land of my birth (Nigeria), wishes I had the choice to attend high school and university with childhood friends, and wishes I had the choice to start my career close to my family".

 The second example is the case of Prof. Philip Emeagwali. He is a Nigerian inventor and scientist. He lives in the United States for many years. In 1989,  Emeagwali won the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize ($10,000) for price-performance in high-performance computing applications, in an oil reservoir modelling calculation using a novel mathematical formulation and implementation. The Gordon Bell Prize is an award presented by the Association for Computing Machinery each year in conjunction with the Supercomputing Conference (SC) Conference series. The prize recognizes outstanding achievement in high-performance computing applications. The main purpose is to track the progress over time of parallel computing, by acknowledging and rewarding innovation in applying high-performance computing to applications in science, engineering, and large-scale data analytics. The application used computational fluid dynamics for oil-reservoir modelling. He won in the "price/performance" category, with a performance figure of about 400 Mflops/$1M. The winner in the "performance" category, Mobil Research and Thinking Machines, used the CM-2 for seismic data processing and achieved the higher ratio of 500 Mflops/$1M. The judges decided on one award per entry. His method involved each microprocessor communicating with six neighbours. Emeagwali's simulation was the first programme to apply a pseudo-time approach to reservoir modelling. Gordon Bell prize was established in 1987. A cash award of $10,000 is donated to the winner. The award is funded by Gordon Bell, a pioneer in high-performance and parallel computing. The Prizes were preceded by a nominal prize of $100 established by Alan Karp, a numerical analyst (then of IBM). Karp was the first Gordon Bell Prize judges. Individuals or teams may apply for the award by submitting a technical paper describing their work through the SC conference submissions process. Finalists present their work at that year's conference, and their submissions are included in the conference proceedings. This was the feat achieved by a Nigerian in 1989 because of his innovation of 'high speed computer', almost 30 years ago when computers in the developing countries were accessible to very few elites and scholars. Emeagwali was voted the "35th-greatest African (and greatest African scientist) of all time" in a survey by New African magazine. His achievements were quoted in a speech by President Bill Clinton as an example of what Nigerians could achieve when given the opportunity. He is also a frequent feature of Black History Month articles in the popular press.

A similar scholarly feat currently being recorded is that of Mr. Abba C. Zubair, an Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, working in Mayo Clinic Florida, USA. Prof. Zubair did his MBBS in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, obtained his MSc in Clinical Science from Harvard Medical School, did his Clinical Fellowship - Transfusion Medicine Programme in Harvard Medical School, had his Residency in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania, had his PhD - Tumor Immunology University of Sheffield and Post Doctoral Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is actively involved many ongoing and completed research works at Mayo Clinic Cancer Centre, Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Hematologic Malignancies Programme. Several feats were achieved by this hard working Nigerian in a faraway America. In a similar manner, another 1990 Ahmadu Bello University graduate from the same Faculty is breaking records in the same medical field in God’s owned country, America. He is Sarki Abba Abdulkadir, a former Vanderbilt associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and of Cancer Biology, who is now a professor in Urology and Pathology at Northwestern University, Chicago. After graduating from Ahmadu Bellow University, Nigeria in 1990, he made his PhD in Immunology from Johns Hopkins University, (1995), had his Residency in Barnes Jewish Hospital, Clinical Pathology (1999), had his Fellowship: Barnes Jewish Hospital, Clinical Pathology in 2000 and had his Postdoctoral Fellowship: Washington University, Pathology  in the same year 2000. After his formal training in the various Institutions, Prof Abdulkadir wrote his name with gold in American medical industry in teaching, research and training. He has several academic publications in refutable journals at national and international levels. As a results of series achievements in his famous profession – medicine, Abdulkadir, a professor of urology in the Feinberg School of Medicine, was named the John T. Grayhack, M.D., Chair in Urological Research of the university. A Urological Research chair is a highly prestigious position that can only be occupied by scientists who had distinguished themselves in the science of urology. (To be continued next week)