EDITORIAL: The Faith Odunsi Story And The Problem With Nigeria

Approximately two weeks ago news broke that a 15 year-old Nigerian student, Faith Odunsi of the Ambassadors College, Ota, Ogun State had defeated contestants from all over the world to clinch the Global Open Mathematics tournament.

Further glossing this teenager’s victory was the fact that not only did she win the keenly contested prize, she had done so as a class act, flooring her nearest competitor with a staggering 30 points margin.

Significantly, Faith’s incredible achievement occurred about the same time two ace Nigerian entertainers, Wizkid and Burna Boy won Grammy awards at the 63rd edition of the event.

Of course, the Grammy award wins echoed as a big statement from the most populous black nation that our indigenous talents had come a long way in the industry and could now compete at the highest level against artistes from different parts of the world.

In typical fashion, social and traditional media spaces erupted as Nigerians took to different platforms to applaud the unprecedented feat by the two musicians. Governors, political functionaries, fellow celebrities and other prominent Nigerians turned in congratulatory messages.

According to viral reports, Governor Wike of Rivers State which is home to Damini Ogulu, A.K.A Burna Boy threw a lavish homecoming bash in the wake of the Grammy win and rewarded the singer alongside the performers who had been invited to the homecoming fete. For weeks, Twitter trends hailed two Grammy award wins like a long awaited rapture. All of this transpired while Faith Odunsi’s big win was being skewed to rear view.

In Nigeria today, when intellectual capacity is exhibited even at the highest and ingenious levels, no comets are seen neither are any fireworks heard. Such accomplishments barely make the back page of the tabloids and are characteristically swept under the rug as non-events; contrari-wise to when the winner of the annual Reality Television show emerges, which usually produces public fan-fare of volcanic proportions.

Of course, this insouciant disposition towards intellectualism has all stemmed from the subtle yet dangerous narrative that “school na scam” and that the most successful individuals in society are all drop outs, at which point we begin to wonder if we should all drop out of school as a necessary index to achieve success in life.

Without a shred of doubt, the Faith Odunsi story is one which holistically denudes the underbelly of Nigeria as a country. This is particularly so because this time we cannot quickly pull the familiar pretext of blaming the government for not living up to its responsibility.

This time, it is a collective failure on the generality of the Nigerian society, from the government which deems it more fitting to reward entertainers than invest in the abilities of the most gifted minds whose talents could prove invaluable in leading the charge to place Nigeria firmly on the launchpad to significant developmental strides, to the generality of Nigerians who sing odes and ballads for the music stars and set up GoFundMe accounts for housemates of the annual reality TV show, to even the media who have by no means done justice to her story.

It is a collective failure on everyone’s part, and until we recognize this failure, we will continue to wake up with more questions than answers as to why the country is in the shambolic state that it has been for quite some time.

On Wednesday, March 31, 2021, Faith Odunsi was honoured with a scholarship by a non for profit group, Digital World Forum, an organization dedicated to harnessing talents to explore the enduring potentials in the world of digital technology.

As exciting and rewarding as the occasion was, it was merely a shave compared to what this amazingly talented math-magician ought to have be rewarded with, as a few strokes of our back-pedal will take us to a few months ago when the Governor of Ogun State, (the same state that Faith happens to hail from), awarded cash gift to the tune of millions of naira and an apartment to the winner of Big Brother Naija, season 5. We would also recall that about that same period, Nigerians had hurriedly set up a GoFundMe account for a reality TV housemate who was eliminated from the show for bad behaviour.

It will also be pertinent to mention that, as observed by EKO HOT BLOG, which happened to be one out of a couple of media outlets who travelled across state lines to capture Faith’s golden moment, none of the acclaimed heavyweight media outlets had deemed it fitting to grace the teenager’s scholarship investiture; the same news platforms who are never absent from the big political rallies where brown envelopes are sure to go round.

ALSO READ: Digital World Forum Honours Global Mathematics Champion, Faith Odunsi, With Scholarship Award

Much of the debate surrounding Nigeria’s mysterious lack in the midst of abundance has stemmed from the logic that the country’s natural and human resources have failed to do justice to its potential; and, in typical fashion the blame always finds its way to Aso Rock and its adjuncts, which is expected since government is responsible for managing the resources of the collectivity and initiating policies which in large parts affect the countenance of the society.

But then, at some point we may have to face the gnawing reality that we cannot compete with well structured civilizations that have prioritized education while we continue to peddle the dangerous narrative that school is a scam. Ironically, these well structured systems end up selling the products of their education to us at a King’s ransom while we remain unbending in promoting the notion that education has lost its value in today’s world.

In the end, the same Nigerians who prefer setting up GoFundMe accounts for Reality Television Stars will be the ones asking why the country is losing its brightest minds in the academia to the western world. The answer is as basic as it gets; until prodigious talents like Faith Odunsi are given the attention they deserve, an end to this paradox of a reality we live in will be nothing more than an Utopia.

PS: Below is a video of Faith Odunsi setting a mind-boggling record at the Cowbellpedia Maths Quiz where she answered an astonishing 19 questions within 60 seconds.