Nigerians are the most gifted people on earth
In the face of many challenges and economic instability amongst other things, including the prejudice and the maltreatment Nigerians go through abroad, yet we still come out strong. Though people often claim that most of these problems are self- inflicted ones because of the notorious acts few of our citizens are known for internationally, forgetting that western media and the likes prefer to escalate any form of negative news about people of African origin, holding back the songs of praise about the ones who are doing exploits in the diaspora.
Howbeit, as a citizens, we do is area at all, we are too quick to wash our dirty linen outside through our numerous unnecessary negative posts and comments display on Social media about incidence and happenings. Instead of concentrating more on the positive part of Nigeria, by celebrating our own. Yoruba will say ‘teni n teni’; meaning is mine is mine. We to seem not to remember that if we fail to beat our drum, nobody else will do it for us.
However, I want to quickly run through names and exploits of some Nigerians who are so gifted and have distinguished themselves while in the diaspora and not much celebrity status has been accorded unto them as Nigerians by the Nigeria as a nation.
Sokoto State born Jelani Aliyu designed the first electric car for American automobile giant General Motors. Olufunmilayo Olopede, Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, won a McArthur Genius Award for her work on cancer. Winston Soboyejo, who earned a Cambridge doctorate at 23, is a Princeton engineering professor laurelled for his contributions to materials research. He is also the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Washington University biomedical engineering professor Samuel Achilefu received the St. Louis Award for his invention of cancer-seeing glasses that is a major advance in radiology. Kunle Olukotun of Stanford did work of original importance on multi-processors. National Merit laureate Omowunmi Sadik of State University of Binghamton owns patents for biosensors technology.
Young Nigerians are equally not left out in achieving great feats home and abroad. The Imafidons, a Nigerian family, were voted “the smartest family in Britain” in 2015. Anne-Marie Imafidon earned her Oxford Masters’ in Mathematics and Computer Science when she was only 19. Today, she sits on several corporate boards and was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to science. Recently, Benue State University mathematician Atovigba Michael Vershima is believed to have solved the two centuries old Riemann Conjecture that has defied giants such as Gauss, Minkowski and Polya.
Another young Nigerian, Hallowed Olaoluwa, was one of a dozen “future Einstein” awarded postdoctoral fellowships by Harvard University. He completed a remarkable doctorate in mathematical physics at the University of Lagos at age 21. While at Harvard he aims to focus on solving problems relating to “quantum ergodicity and quantum chaos”, with applications to medical imaging and robotics.
A University of Lagos alumnus, Ayodele Dada, graduated with a perfect 5.0 GPA, an unprecedented feat in a Nigerian university. Victor Olalusi recently graduated with such stellar performance at the Russian Medical Research University, Moscow, and was feted the best graduate throughout the Russian Federation. Similarly, Habiba Daggash, daughter of Senator Sanusi Daggash, recently graduated with a starred first in Engineering at Oxford University.
Emmanuel Ohuabunwa earned a GPA of 3.98 out of a possible 4.0 as the best overall graduate of the Ivy-League Johns Hopkins University. Stewart Hendry, Johns Hopkins Professor of Neuroscience, described the young man as having “an intellect so rare that it touches on the unique…a personality that is once-in-a-life-time”. Yemi Adesokan, postdoctoral fellow of Harvard Medical School who patented procedures for tracking the spread of viral epidemics in developing countries.
Ufot Ekong recently solved a 50-year mathematical riddle at Tokai University in Japan and was voted the most outstanding graduate of the institution. He currently works as an engineer for Nissan, having pocketed two patents in his discipline. Kano State born Muhammed Mustafa Cengiz emerges best graduating medical student with distinction in Russia, with a perfect score of 5.0 CGPA in Kazan Medical University.
Similarly, Kano State born Hauwa Umar Usman, northern first female Aeronautical engineer who suffered from dyslexia (a “specific learning difficulty” that can cause certain problems with the ability used for learning, such as reading, writing etc) as a child but went on to bag a First Class (Honours) degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Brighton, United Kingdom (UK). She is the first Nigerian female to achieve a first class in that discipline in the history of the school.
Looking at all of these Nigerians who have been excellent in their chosen professions, you will agree with me that, Nigerian are about the most gifted people on planet earth. Hence, let’s make it a point of duty to promote the positive parts of being a Nigerian and leave the negatives in obscurity.
