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Three Nigerians, Ahmed Adeagbo, David Achara and Oluwakorede Adedeji, have been elected Rhodes Scholars from West Africa that will join the Rhodes Class of September 2025.
Each of them has been awarded a three-year fully paid scholarship, including a living stipend for their chosen courses, at the University of Oxford.
In a statement issued recently by the Rhodes Scholarship National Secretary for West Africa, Dr Ike Chioke, 3,887 applications were opened on the application portal for West Africa this year for the 2025 scholarships. Of this number, only 385 applications were successfully submitted for consideration.
The statement reads, “Upon review of the submitted applications, 170 of them met all the conditions specified as prerequisites for the West African scholarships. Our selection committee then conducted the stage one review of the 170 eligible candidates and whittled them to 70. The committee further debated the 70 longlisted applications and came up with a shortlist of 29 candidates, after interviewing the shortlisted candidates, 15 were invited to the final round of in-person interviews in Lagos on Saturday, November 9, 2024.”
Adeagbo, who graduated as valedictorian of the Nigerian University of Technology and Management Scholars Programme, bagged a Distinction in Pharmacy from the University of Lagos in 2023. With four years of strategy and investment experience, he is passionate about access to healthcare and poverty eradication. He co-founded Alaye Social Ventures to empower rural women through microloans and digital healthcare services.
Adedeji is a pharmacist, web designer and researcher, with passion for drug discovery and public health. The overall best student of Pharmacy from the University of Ilorin in 2023 has led various initiatives in health promotion and advocacy. He aspires to create solutions towards achieving Universal Health Coverage, especially in Africa.
On his part, Achara, a first-class Computer Science graduate from the Nile University of Nigeria, graduated as the best student in his department in 2023. Passionate about software engineering and Machine Learning, he aims to leverage his interests to make innovative healthcare solutions accessible to low-income communities across Africa.
Established in 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and perhaps the most prestigious international scholarship programme, enabling outstanding students around the world to study at the University of Oxford.
The scholarship is not just a financial bursary, it is a life-changing opportunity for exceptional candidates to fulfil their potential and make a difference.
Rhodes Scholars tend to have a vision of how the globe could be better, whatever their sphere of interest or backgrounds.
The fellowship of Rhodes Scholars, worldwide and across generations, is active and over 4,500 strong. Each Rhodes Scholar enters a life-long fellowship with ongoing opportunities to connect and collaborate with their contemporaries.
