Nigerian graduate wins five scholarships in the U.S.

A Nigerian graduate and creative writer, Samuel Felix Ekanem, has been admitted into five universities in the United States on a fully-funded scholarship for the Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.

Apart from the 100 per cent tuition waiver, each of the universities has also offered Ekanem a graduate fellowship, which entitles him to an annual stipend throughout the duration of his programme.

The institutions are University of Notre Dame, Indiana; University of South Carolina, Columbia; Florida State University, Tallahassee; North Carolina State University, Raleigh; and Texas State University, San Marcos.

Ekanem had earlier bagged the President’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Honours Award, which was conferred on him alongside 52 other ex-corps members by the immediate past President, Muhamadu Buhari, in recognition of his outstanding performance and contribution to national development during his national service in Oyo State— an award that came with automatic employment into the federal civil service and scholarship to doctorate level in any Nigerian university.

During his service year, Ekanem mobilised funds and constructed an ultra modern public restroom facility, which he donated to the community, describing it as his contribution to the fight against open defecation in the country.

He also led a team of his fellow graduate volunteers to facilitate the novel financial inclusion campaigns in his host local government on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where he educated the unbanked locals on certain financial policies as promulgated by the apex bank.

On the scholarship, Ekanem described his admission as a dream come true. Ekanem, who hails from Akwa Ibom State, is a Communication Arts graduate from the University of Uyo and his family’s first graduate so far.