By Benprince Ezeh

IN the past four years, more than 700 young Africans have benefited from the Mandela Washington Fellows, MWF, established by Barak Obama, a former US president. The exchange fellowship is meant to empower young Africans to travel to the United States of America, for leadership and entrepreneur trainings in an exchange programme. The programme has also been designed to engage entrepreneurial and energetic young African leaders closer to the US and move forward together.  Incidentally, 360 Nigerians have so far benefited from it.

Russell Brooks, public affairs officer, US Consulate General, Lagos, made the disclosure on Wednesday, October 3, when the United State Embassy hosted the 2018 Mandela Washington Fellows. He said that the top priority for the US mission in Nigeria “is to support Nigeria in its effort to develop the huge potential of its economy and of its human capital. In order to do that, one leg of our effort is to help enhance educational opportunities for young Nigerian”

John F Bray, consul general, US Consulate General, Lagos, in his remarks, said that he was exceptionally pleased to be at the event and welcome those who recently returned from the six-week fellowship experience in the US. “You spent time at some of the best educational institutions our country has to offer, and I hope to hear about your experiences.

“The programme we saw is a White House initiative and support by the US government; they go out and paired up in terrific universities in United States. They get empowership skills and learn way forward and what we seen overtime is that they all came back and do tremendous things in Nigeria and for Nigeria. Fact is there is no limit to what they can achieve, you now have not too young to vote or too young to run?

“They can run for office, they can stay in a political office; they can work in a civil society. Look at the range of different projects they have done in different communities and that are the key of the whole thing. Let’s focus on one keyword which is Young African Leaders Initiates, Yali, and its leaders. Leaders go back to their communities and organize programmes for civil society groups and other different things. They touch not just themselves and families but touch their communities and that basically is how the program works.”

Bray also had some encouraging words for Ugochi Obidiegwu, a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow, Communication and Language Art graduate of the University of Ibadan. A cabin crew and safety officer of a Nigerian airline, Aero contractors. Author the ‘Adventures of Muna’, a book which is meant for children’s safety. She also runs a social enterprise, where she creates safety education tools for African Children and Educators, ACE, to increase safety consciousness that helps them to act different kind of emergency to reduce accident, is a true leader.

“She has been an instrumental force in bringing a group of young professionals together to establish the Lagos hub of the YALI Face@Face group, a key partner for the U.S. Mission in our effort to reach young people in Nigerians and discuss important topics such as democracy, economic development, education and entrepreneurship. Thank you so much for your hard work Ugochi,” he said.

In the same vein, Mike Okwoche, International Visitors Leadership Program, LVLP, Alumnus/TVC, Lagos, who spoke during a mentorship session, said that by 2050 Nigeria will be third most populated country after China and India and even more than the US with 400 million people in population. Hence, he argued: “We need to provide work for ourselves because it’s the essence of getting educated. In 1991, then head of state Ibrahim Babangida suggested that Nigerians should be limited to just four children, but mix reactions came up, ethnicity, religion and tribe amongst them.”

– Oct. 8, 2018 @ 18:49 GMT |