We continue our series where we seek to trace the paths of some of West Africa's most talented individuals over the last thirty five years. What has happened to them? What contributions have they made? To the world at large? To their native West Africa? Is early academic achievement (for this will be our sole selector) a reliable predictor for later success? What differences can be identified in outcomes between the 'early' scholars (say before 2000) and the later scholars (after 2000)? For example, are later scholars more likely to be working in their native country or region? What differences can be identified in outcomes between the different nationalities? For example, do the brightest Ghanaians achieve more success than the brightest Nigerians in later life? What do we mean by "success"? What professions have these individuals pursued? Have they worked predominantly in the STEM areas that development experts tell us are critical for developing countries or have their talents gone elsewhere? And which fields within STEM are most popular? What about gender? What effect does it have on outcomes among this category? Do the brightest girls do as well as the brightest boys in later life? What about the educational systems in the various countries? Can we glean anything about this from our results? We hope to at least begin the answers to these questions during the course of the series.

As our selector we use the results of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, school leaving examination. Since 1985, WAEC has awarded prizes to the top three candidates in this exam. We shall attempt to trace the progress of these individuals using only publicly available information. No doubt, in some cases, despite our best efforts we will be unable to identify individuals or we will misidentify individuals, but through careful examination of the available evidence we should be able to glean accurate enough information to be able to form a reasonable overall picture. We will remain open to correction by our readers throughout the series. The "VERIFICATION" entry for each listing below indicates the criteria used to determine, or at least infer, that the individual whose details we have pulled from the public (internet) record was indeed the individual of the same name who excelled in the WAEC examination. A first name and last name match is a prerequisite.

WAEC, of course, conducts examinations only in English-speaking West Africa, so this series is necessarily limited to these areas. Up to 1998 GCE 'A' and 'O' levels were the principal school-leaving examinations conducted by WAEC, and it appears the top three candidates were in most if not all years selected for award from the 'O' level list.  In 1998, a new examination, the WASSCE, was introduced and quickly replaced the earlier school-leaving examinations.

We continue with the the fifteen award winners between 1995 and 2005. There was some discontinuity in the awards in these years. In 1995 there was just one award winner. In the following three years there was no winner. In 1999 again just one winner.  We have no  information for 2002 and in 2003 and 2004 two awardees were named in each year.

1995:


Rodliz Gilpin-Jackson (later Jones) B.A., Economics and French, 2002, Swarthmore College, USA, MBA, Human Resources, 2013 St. Josephs University, USA. Since 2005, Human Resources and Financial Professional, Vanguard Financial Group, Pennsyvania, USA. VERIFICATION: Middle name, Graduation date, Linked-In page


1999:


Odinachi Matthew Okoli MD, University of Nigeria, Enugu. West African College of Surgeons 2016 Fellowship examination, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Currently Senior registrar, Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Nigeria. VERIFICATION. Full name, Facebook page, school-leaving and graduation years


2000:


Olatubosun (Bosun) J. Adeoti B.Sc. Elec Eng., MIT, 2007; M. Eng, Elec. Eng., 2007; Technical Staff, Oracle America, 2007 - 2010; Software Engineer, Google, USA, 2010 - present; 3 peer-reviewed publications between 2006 and 2008; 4 joint patents, 1 joint patent appplication on behalf of Google between 2013 and 2018. VERIFICATION: Middle initial, graduation dates, Linked-In page

Oluyomo T. Olarewaju No information found.

Adekunle M. Adeyemo Ph.D., Mathematics, MIT, USA, 2013. VERIFICATION: Middle initial. Year of Ph.D.





2001:


Oluwadunni Sobukunola. No information found

James I. Arhuidese, M.D.; MPH (Masters in Public Health), Johns Hopkins University, USA, 2013; Dept of Surgery, Johns Hopkins, 2014;Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins, 2015; resident MD University of South Florida, 2017; numerous joint medical research papers since 2014. VERIFICATION: Middle initial, age

Christopher Okpaleke, M.D. (MBBS) Nnamdi Azikwe University, 2009; MPH, University of British Columbia, 2014;  Medical Officer, Nigeria, 2009 - 2012, Medical Researcher and Physician, Canada, 2014 - present. 16 joint medical research papers since 2014. VERIFICATION: Linked-in page

2003;


Cyprian I. (Ikenna) Odinaka.  B.S., Physics and Maths, Illinois Wesleyan University, USA, 2008; M.S., Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Washington University, 2014; Post-doctoral associate, Duke University, North Carolina, USA, 2014 - 2017; Data Scientist, Infinia, 2017 - present; 14 joint research papers from 2010. VERIFICATION: Middle initial, approximate age

Oluwatola (Opeyemi) Akanbi. Law degree, Harvard Law School, USA. Admitted to the bar, NY state 2013. Ph.D. Communications, University of Pennsylvania, 2019; Practising in Philadelphia, USA with University of Pennsylvania.  3 professional papers seen. VERIFICATION: Middle name, approximate age

2004:


Opeyemi O. Ogunlade. M.Sc. Power Plants Technologies, University of Strathclyde, Scotland, 2012 - 2013; Ph.D. student, University of Strathclyde. VERIFICATION: Middle name (Oreoluwa)

Augustine O. Onwunali. Bachelor's degree, Mathematics, Wesleyan University, Connecticut, USA, Investment Professional, The Infrastructure Bank, Nigeria, 2017 - Present. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page

2005:


Odaro Anthony Omusi. B.Sc Electrical Engineering, Notre Dame University, Indiana, USA, 2011; M.Sc. Electrical Engineering, Ohio State University, 2013; to present - Electric vehicle specialist, Cummins, USA. VERIFICATION: Middle name, Linked-in page

Eziama E. Ubachukwu. B.Eng. Electronic Engineering, 2010, University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Masters Degree, Computer Systems, University of Edinburgh, 2015; Masters Degree, Electronic Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 2017; to present - Ph.D student, Aachen University, Germany; assistant lecturer, Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, 2015 to present; VERIFICATION: Linked-In page

Said Dikko. International Baccalaureae, Wales, 2007; M. Eng, Chemical Engineering, UCL, London, 2012; Research Officer, Presidential Committee for North-East Initiative, Nigeria - to present; VERIFICATION: Linked-in page, Facebook page



1995 - 2005 SUMMARY
(For nationality (WASSCE location), gender, and percent contributing to the written public record, figures are percentages of the total (15). For other categories, figures are percentages of the total identified in that category)

By Nationality:                                                                             Nigeria - 93%, Ghana - 0%, Sierra Leone - 7%, Gambia - 0%
By Gender:                                                                                    Male - 73%  Female - 27%
Percentage achieving at least first degree:                                 100% (13/13)
Percentage achieving graduate degree:                                        92% (12/13)
Attained first degree in West Africa:                                           36% (4/11)
Percentage working in Stem:                                                        77% (10/13)
Percentage currently living in West Africa:                                 27% (3/11)
Percentage whose career has been centered in West Africa:     36% (4/11)     * Half marks given for those who have spent significant time in West Africa as well as abroad 
Books published:                                                                            0
Peer-reviewed research articles:                                                   >123, (2 individual, balance joint)
Patents:                                                                                           5 US, joint
Other professional articles:                                                            3
Percent contributing to written public record                                33% (5/15)      *Book or article or patent