Boy who outmatched millions in 2019 UTME gets scholarship from American school, sets to relocate abroad

Thirty scholars of the Opportunity Funds Program of the US mission in Nigeria have got a full-funded scholarship amounting to $4.35 million (N1,788,937,500) which will see them attending American universities for the 2021//2022 academic session.

SaharaReporters gathers that the young students were picked after a thorough process by the US Consulate General. The fund will cover the 30 indigent student’s school fees, travel, visa applications, and every other cost.

The 2019 genius won again

Among those who got lucky was 17-year-old Ekene Ezeunala. He had the highest Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) score in 2019 when he got 347.

With the scholarship, he will be studying computer science and mathematics at Columbia University in New York, The Nation reports.

The 30 winners consist of six who will be getting their first degrees, three for masters and 21 for their PhDs.

Temitayo Famutimi, the information specialist of the US Consulate General in Lagos congratulated the Nigerians, saying their success shows the great potentials Nigerians possess.

The specialist implored them to maximise the opportunity given to them. It should be noted that among the selected was also Urinrin Otite who was the first person to get a first-class degree in the department of civil engineering at the University of Port Harcourt.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a 17-year-old Nigerian teenager, Victory Yinka-Banjo, who had nine A’s in WAEC in 2020 is in the news again for even greater things.

Victory was offered full scholarships by Ivy League schools; Yale College, Princeton University, Harvard, and Brown College in both the US and Canada to the tune of more than $5 million (N1,902,500,000).

While speaking with the media, the teenager said the whole development came as very surprising to her, adding that she never thought any school would even offer her admission.