Nigerian Wonder Boy Beats UK Varsity Record
November 6, 2001

FROM MARTINS OLOJA,
ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

JUST as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) chief executive, Prof. Bello Salim is lamenting poor performance in the sciences at home, a 21-year-old Nigerian from Ondo State, Damilola Gabriel Iwanefu, has shattered the records at the prestigious University of Hull in the United Kingdom.

The wonder boy, who obtained seven A1 and two A2 in the 1997 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) at the Mayflower School, Ikenne, Ogun State, bagged not only First Class Honours degree in Electronics Engineering but also got the university's prestigious Walter Firth prize for being the best student in the field of Electronics. Besides, Damilola also walked tall and away at the recent graduation ceremony with the departmental award for the best final year project.

University records made available to The Guardian Newspaper show that although Damilola has been conferred with these honours, the records have just been published and gazetted.

Damilola's proud father, Mr. Joseph Omojuyinnu Iwanefu who hails from Ode-Aye in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State and his mother, Agnes Modupe Iwanefu, who witnessed the glorious moment in London also confirmed the development at the weekend.

Iwanefu said: "I did not want to make noise about Damilola's excellent performance because of my strong desire to protect his foundation. Of course, the apparent lack of presence of the Nigerian press in London or in the United Kingdom makes the issue more surprising because the Times Education supplement in the London Times published the results but surprisingly no one culled it in Nigeria".

Damilola's father is a graduate of the University of Benin where he graduated in Accountancy with a Second Class Upper Division in the early 80s. A chartered accountant and chartered banker who served in the Nigerian finance and banking industry for about two decades rose to the level of Deputy General Manager in Lead Merchant Bank, befoe going into private business. He now shuttles between Lagos and Abuja. Damilola's mother, Modupe, is a graduate teacher with the Lagos State Teaching Service. In a telephone conversation at the weekend, she said: "I am grateful to God for the mercy on my first son. As a teacher I appeal to the federal government to equip our universities to be able to cope with development process. I was shocked at the level and quality of equipment at Damilola's alma mater in London. It is marvellous, compared to ours... Our legislators should visit and note that and allocate good portion of our revenue to education. Education is light and knowledge is real power to the people". Damilola, who was born on May 27, 1980, did both his primary and secondary education between 1986 and 1997. He was a member of the Mayflower Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) club and represented the school both at the primary and secondary schools in many local and international JETS competitions and won many prizes for himself and the school. It was therefore not surprising that in his Junior School Certificate Examinations (JSCE) held in 1994, he had distinctions in nine subjects and credit in two. He sustained the academic excellence in his Senior School Certificate Examinations in June 1977 when he made A1 in seven subjects -Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Agricultural Science, Further Mathematics, and Yoruba and A2 each in English and Geography. The result was second to only one candidate's in the year's result. It was the best ever produced by Mayflower School since establishment in 1956. Damilola also sat for WAEC/GCE O/L as a private candidate In November 1997, making A1 in all subjects - including Economics which he did in place of Yoruba in the examinations. Damilola was to study Medicine at the University of Ibadan in 1997. But as fate would have it, while waiting to resume at the University of Ibadan, he used the opportunity of the delay caused by one of the many strikes in Nigerian universities to enroll at a private coaching school in Ikeja, Lagos, to prepare for Cambridge Advance Level (A/L) examinations for just six months.

To the surprise of the school that almost rejected his candidature because of the short duration, Damilola again had the best result in the school with Grade A in Mathematics and Chemistry and Grade B in Physics. His result, AAB, with the support of Oxbridge College was spotted by the University of Hull, U.K. which offered him Sir Roy Marshall Scholarship to study Electronics Engineering in the university though he had enrolled at the University of Ibadan to study Medicine.

At the University of Hull, 1998 to 2001, his degree prorgamme covered various aspects of electronics engineering, including control systems analysis and design, opto-electronics, analog and digital electronics, communications and digital design. "His performance," according to a journal, "in the various courses, assignments, projects and examinations was exceptional". The journal stated further: "...Thus the university was not surprised when Damilola, the whizz-kid, not only made a First Class Honours (B. Eng.) in Electronics Engineering but was also awarded the university's Walter Firth Prize for the best student on Electronics Engineering, and departmental prize for the best final year project". It was learnt from the university's records that Damilola's performance instantly qualified him to pursue a direct Ph.D. programme immediately but the boy turned down the offer. His father explained why he rejected the offer: "We feel Dammy requires some practical field experience first, before continuing with his studies in the fields of communications, signals processing and information technology". Damilola is acquiring that experience now.