UNILAG Produces Africa’s Youngest PhD Holder Aged 24

 University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Wednesday June 11, awarded a PhD to 24–year-old Olaoluwa Oluwadamilola making him Africa’s youngest PhD holder. He also had the best PhD thesis graduating with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) 5.0.

Olaoluwa obtained a B.SC in Mathematics and M.SC and Physics in African Central Republic before returning to Nigeria in October, 2009. He began his PhD in 2010, courtesy of a scholarship from the General Overseer of the Deeper Christian Life Mission, Pastor Williams Kumuyi. Speaking with reporters at UNILAG Auditorium One, Oluwadamilola said:

“I used to come first in my secondary school days, but not always. My performances became better when I entered the university. As a Christian, my schedule is very tight. I am focused. There were times when I faced distractions from friends who wanted to take me out. There is nothing bad in it, but it can make you concentrate less. There were times when I had job offers and was tempted to take them.

I was discouraged at the beginning. One gets a feeling at the beginning of one’s doctorate programme that all the research topics had been considered by previous scholars and so there is nothing else to do, except for the most complicated ones that are most times beyond one’s ability. Sometimes when you send your papers to international journals, they return it for one reason or the other. That does not mean your work is not good enough, but it can be very discouraging. I want to take another doctoral programme, which will be in either Mathematics or Physics. I will think of what topic to choose before I eventually go ahead,” he said.

Oluwadamilola’s parents are missionaries with the Deeper Christian Life Ministry.