At a time, in this 21st century when Nigeria government is holding back their own from writing WAEC, GCE, and JAMB for admission into Nigeria universities because they are less than 18 years old, the USA and the civilized world would appear to be mocking us. While this lazy policy lasts the world is intentionally scrambling for our best – our potential geniuses, catching them young and carting them away from us.
One such child, among other potential unreported geniuses, is a 15-year-old Nigerian secondary school pupil, Talitha TOE-EKECHI, who has been offered admission, at the last count, by 15 highly rated American Universities even from her age 14. Meanwhile, this same student was denied registration for JAMB by her school for fear of reprimand from a grossly out-of-tune government policy.
Talitha attracted (American} College Board interests at age 13 (while in SS1 at Rainbow College, Maba Ogun State} when she scored an impressive 1320 points in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) examination – the SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States which assesses skills in reading, writing, and mathematics, and is administered by the College Board of America. Soon after that, at 14, she sat for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) and made a stunning nine (9) Distinctions grade.
According to sources, Talitha who is currently preparing for a “now formality” West African Examinations Council’s May/June 2025 WASCE has in the past 6 months taken time off school to take in-person and on-line competitive tests along with thousands of global competitors for some scholarship programs. Of these, she has been offered multiple (over 10) scholarships and grants from universities and foundations across the USA, putting her Nigerian parents and academic advisers in a dilemma of choices.
Since most of the scholarships are mutually exclusive, the 15-year-old Nigerian teenager has finally accepted the Multicultural Advancement & Lloyd M. Cofer scholarship at the Central Michigan University to read Electronic and Computer Engineering. The little lad is obviously ambitious, disclosing that, ultimately, she has craving interests in mechatronics, AI, and robotics engineering. This fully funded scholarship comes with fully funded tuition, books, accommodation, and feeding/stipends, plus a special annual travel/research grant of five thousand USD redeemable in any part of the world
In addition, The Centralis Scholarship Program awards full-ride and full-tuition scholarships for high-achieving high school seniors has waived for the Nigerian lad its mutually exclusivity condition to allow her access concurrently, the protocols of this honors program in her second year.
While we celebrate Talitha TOE-EKECHI, the reality is that there are many talented Nigerian Talitha’s out there whose growth or discovery are being stunted because of a preposterous retrogressive education policy.
