The Board and Management of the Ugwumba Center for Leadership Development in Africa, hereby announce the appointment of Dr. Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi as one of our Rebrand Nigeria Ambassadors for making Nigerians proud in Canada.
As an advocate for Equity, Diversity and inclusion, Dr Olumuyiwa is leading a global campaign for Universities in Canada, USA, UK, etc to exempt applicants from Nigeria and other Anglophone countries in Africa from their English Proficiency Tests, such as ILETS, TOEFL, etc.
We are glad to inform Nigerians that through this campaign, the University of Alberta and Athabasca University, all in Canada have deleted Nigeria and other Anglophone countries in Africa from their English Proficiency Tests.
We became interested in this matter because the issue of Nigerian graduates being subjected to writing English Proficiency Tests as a compulsory requirement for application for further studies abroad became a heated debate. Many Nigerians see this as another form of racism, after all, English Language is Nigeria’s lingua franca and the common language of study in Nigerian schools, starting from Kindergarten, Nursery, Primary, all through to the University.
Dr. Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi, an Ekiti born Nigerian, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Professor Kronstad Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. He had his first degree in Microbiology from the University of Ado-Ekiti, his Master’s in Microbiology from Daejeon University, South Korea, and his Ph.D. at the Professor Reinhard Fischer laboratory, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.
In 2020, he founded the Scholarship Cafe, a platform which was born out of his passion to break barriers that exist for students from the underrepresented, diverse and marginalized groups in academia. The platform has 3 core values; Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education; Do it Yourself (DIY); and Resilience and a mandate to increase awareness about foremost tertiary institutions providing quality education as well as advancing opportunities after graduation.
So far, statistics shows that he has mentored and provided guidance to over 40,000 applicants resulting in thousands of successful applications (partial, full and self-funding) worth millions of dollars and has also organized over 100 workshops, twitter spaces, and webinars most importantly addressing the underrepresented community.
From 2021 till date, Dr. Olumuyiwa has partnered with an online university to offer 100 fully funded undergraduate scholarships to his audience worth over $650,000 and with the support of his friends and colleagues, he raised over $7,000 as financial aid for the processing of e-passports of 90 prospective graduate students from Nigeria.
Ladies and gentlemen, we celebrate our new Rebrand Nigeria Ambassador and wish to call on other Nigerians, home and abroad to use their offices and connections for the good of Nigerians.
God bless Nigeria!
Congratulations Sir, a well deserved one.
Good day sir, I have been trying hard to get a PhD Scholarship abroad. I really need your guidance and assistance in anyway possible to make it a success. More wins and greater heights Dr. Olumuyiwa.
Good day sir I have been trying hard to get a PhD Scholarship abroad but it has been pretty difficulty. I will need your guidance and support in anyway possible to make it through just as you have guided several others to success. More wins and greater heights Dr. Olumuyiwa.