I applied to do PhD in Applied mathematics and computational science in December 2018. February 2019, I had the first interview in core maths areas like differential equations, probability and statistics, linear Algebra, vector calculus and graph theory. I did so well that the professor said, if you get into kaust, please visit my office.
In March, I did another interview. In April, I did the third interview. Then I got an invitation for the final interview in Dubai for third of 3rd May. Kaust booked my hotel and sent me a flight ticket from Pittsburgh, USA to DXB Dubai.
I pleaded with my professor in the USA to reschedule as exam so I can leave the USA on 1st of May to be able to make it to Dubai on time (because Dubai is 8hours ahead, I need to leave atleast 2days ahead of time).
I applied for Dubai visa that time, and the application was declined twice. The reason, some Nigerians robbed a bureau de change in Dubai few days before my application.
I was eventually slated for Skype interview due to inability to get the visa on time.
At the end, I lost the admission. It’s normal to prioritize applicants who went through the normal procedure. In this case those who made it to Dubai had upper hand.
That scholarship like the one I lost in 2016 is worth 60million naira.
That join the list of scholarships I lost because I am a Nigerian. 4 PhD scholarships, worth of an estimated 250million naira in total.
Thats the cost I paid for corruption and yahoo yahoo.
I am still not giving up on naija, because if someone had given up on naija, I won’t be where I am today. I believe the best I can do, is to replicate what he has done.
We should talk to ourselves. We should stop eulogizing rich people when we know they couldn’t have made the money legitimately. That will help reduce the mad rush to make money damning consequences.
Regardless of the tribe of the criminal, we all pay one way or the other as long as we are Nigerians.