Jakumo:

There is certainly a genetic component that enables Igbo students to rise to the top of the class in academic pursuits, particularly those in the technical field.  Having reviewed large numbers of resumes in Nigeria, it quickly became apparent that there exists a statistically significant MAJORITY of Igbo graduates who excel at mathematics and the sciences, in comparison to the relatively modest numbers of applicants of such high caliber from other tribal categories.

The above conclusions have been drawn after meticulous reviews of literally thousands of resumes, as well as involvement in the subsequent follow-up written interviews of selected candidates.  The natural predisposition of the Igbo student towards technical studies is a compelling reason for Igbo leadership to do all within its power to reverse the current retrogressive trend which sees increasing numbers of Igbo youths forsaking academics in favor of petty trading and motor parts imports.

Environer:


I believe you do not expect all Igbos to be university graduates. I think they have enough graduates already. Thousands of them are jobless in Nigeria after graduation.
I think they have a good balance of educated versus artisans versus business (traders) persons.

Jakumo:

The acquisition of a minimum BS or Ba degree only takes a further four years beyond high school, and would greatly widen the employment options available worldwide, regardless of individual career choice.  Igbos as a group should be encouraged to pursue college educations, so as to capitalize on their evident genetic aptitude for highly complex math and the engineering sciences.

Since the early 1990s, India's dedicated technological science institutes have produced generations of graduates who are snapped up by high-tech firms in the West, where they quickly achieve meteoric success which then enables them to invest massively in their homeland's technology sector.  The same philosophy of intellectual wealth generation should guide the Ndiigbo leadership, for such emphasis on mass education can only be for the larger good, given the remarkable gene pool whose destiny and  future they can thus shape.

Jakumo:

The acquisition of a minimum BS or Ba degree only takes a further four years beyond high school, and would greatly widen the employment options available worldwide, regardless of individual career choice. Igbos as a group should be encouraged to pursue college educations, so as to capitalize on their evident genetic aptitude for highly complex math and the engineering sciences.

Since the early 1990s, India's dedicated technological science institutes have produced generations of graduates who are snapped up by high-tech firms in the West, where they quickly achieve meteoric success which then enables them to invest massively in their homeland's technology sector. The same philosophy of intellectual wealth generation should guide the Ndiigbo leadership, for such emphasis on mass education can only be for the larger good, given the remarkable gene pool whose destiny and future they can thus shape.

Jakumo,

I have for a long time been very fascinated, impressed and dumbfounded by the originality in your ideas and your writing manner.


Well done.

german007:

Jakumo,

I have for a long time been very fascinated, impressed and [i]dumbfounded by the originality in your ideas and your writing manner.


Well done.

[/i]

Sunny_bobo:

the ingenuity of the Igbos is being pronounced in our traditional business apprenticeship scheme instituted by our fore fathers. this apprenticeship scheme has made it possible for billionaires to rise up from families which hitherto were barely able to feed (a rare occurrence in the other regions as it is either a Michael Otedola's son, an Abiola's son or a Danatata's cousin). Note that those 'DROP OUT TRADERS AND SPARE PARTS IMPORTERS' you are referring to are those who if they found themselves across the Niger, would be Area boys and if up North, would be Almajiris. That explains why notwithstanding the fact that the Igbos are producing the highest number of graduates in Nigeria, those 'DROP OUTS' are still topping the charts in their different fields of endeavour.

AjanleKoko:

Dumbfounded?
Typical Naija write-up comment.

Onlytruth:

But what do you think about the topic?

AjanleKoko:

You mean the resume and write-up about Ndubisi Ekekwe? Pretty good. Good to read that he's reaching out to people at home, helping out in the way he knows how.
If there's any tribal slant intended, that interests me not.

Onlytruth:

Everything in Nigeria has a beginning, including tribalism. If all Nigerians behaved like him, then there is hope.

Jakumo:

The acquisition of a minimum BS or Ba degree only takes a further four years beyond high school, and would greatly widen the employment options available worldwide, regardless of individual career choice.  Igbos as a group should be encouraged to pursue college educations, so as to capitalize on their evident genetic aptitude for highly complex math and the engineering sciences.

Since the early 1990s, India's dedicated technological science institutes have produced generations of graduates who are snapped up by high-tech firms in the West, where they quickly achieve meteoric success which then enables them to invest massively in their homeland's technology sector.  The same philosophy of intellectual wealth generation should guide the Ndiigbo leadership, for such emphasis on mass education can only be for the larger good, given the remarkable gene pool whose destiny and  future they can thus shape.

timmy2409:

He was at my former uni about two years ago to lecture at some three-day workshop he organized himself-- which I happened to attend. This guy by every means is the greatest Nigerian I ever met. He's so down to earth and patriotism oozes out of his speech and actions. Although almost everyone present including lecturers at my uni, kinda worshiped him for holding the number of degrees he did, he took the time to speak to every body individually and respectfully. My roommate at the time also loved him simply for the fact that even though he had spent a relatively long amount of time in the West, he hadn't changed his igbo accent any bit (maybe the igbo accent is just too thick to be dropped jk). He made me, and hopefully everyone that also attended the workshop, believe we could do or be anything we wanted to. Greatest man I ever met.

AjanleKoko:

^^
Err . . .  what does that mean, most qualified Nigerian? Most qualified to do what?

Or you mean the Nigerian that has the most number of degrees?

Akin-Egba:

Jakumo,

Do you have any scientific bases to ascribe genetics to Igbo pursuit of studies in science and math? Do we then say Yorubas are genetically primed to study accounting and law, seeing that they tower above others in these fields?

Jakumo:

Akin, my observations about the statistical over-representation of the Igbo tribe in the engineering sciences are based on my having had the privilege of reviewing thousands of resumes submitted by job-seeking Nigerian graduates, and also my involvement in the follow-up selection interviews conducted to sort out the pretenders from the true scholars.

To answer your question directly, my presumption about the genetic basis of Igbo intellect is grounded largely in the fact that such massive numbers of Igbo men DOMINATE the engineering disciplines, while candidates from Nigeria's other tribal demographics, even when grouped together, constitute a distinct minority in those specific technical subjects.  Whether this enormous academic specialization disparity is due to nature or nurture will likely remain an intriguing mystery for some time to come. 

By the way, the multiple degree holder described in your first post here is a living national treasure who, as time goes on, has the potential to positively and profoundly impact the advancement of Nigeria AND his adopted homeland.

Akin-Egba:

Yes, I am speaking academically. Do you know of any other better than him academically? I learnt Ekwueme has several BScs, one MSc and one PhD, but he does not have 2 MScs and 2 PhDs.

deor03:

In as much as the fact presented above could be true , I disagree with your presumption of the basis of the fact.

People are influenced by their environment. For the basis of my Argument I will divide Nigerian Environment into 3 ( the SW ; The East+Niger Delta and the North)

The examples of success in the South West is predominantly in the Banking , Judiciary , Construction Engineering Sectors, IT,Medical Sector,Business
In the The East + Niger Delta, the predominant influence is the Oil and Gas Sector, Medical Sector
In the north , The predominant Influence is on Politics, Millitary, Civil Service ect


Bases on the fact presented above, It is normal that a young Nigerian growing up In any Part of these part of Nigeria to be influenced based on what is termed success in that part of the Country.

For a young Male Nigerian growing up in the East or ND, He will most likely want to work in Shell , Mobil, etc, so right from Secondary school , his mind is tuned to that.
To work in these industry, you must study one of the Engineering courses and also do so with VERY good grades.
Getting into the competitive Engineering disciplines requires good secondary school O level result.

So as to achieve the Ultimate AIM, the Child is tuned to scoring Good grades from SS1 till 500 Level in the University.

So I submit that performance of the Igbo guy , is largely driven by the environment, rather than the genes.

I would be interested in this study, though to ascertain by assumptions .


Maybe comparing a group of Lagos Born and Bred IGBO guys to the Owerri/Onitsha Born and Bred IGBO guys

Katsumoto:

That is a load of bullshit. No one can dispute the man's intellect but to ascribe the title of most qualified Nigerian is a bit much. He seems to have a lot of engineering and technical degrees; will those qualify him to run a bank or practice as a barrister or even as an accountant? Do not confuse having education titles with being a thoroughbred professional.

The question you should be asking yourself is, 'what is he the most qualified at doing?'.

timmy2409:

He was at my former uni about two years ago to lecture at some three-day workshop he organized himself-- which I happened to attend. This guy by every means is the greatest Nigerian I ever met. He's so down to earth and patriotism oozes out of his speech and actions. Although almost everyone present including lecturers at my uni, kinda worshiped him for holding the number of degrees he did, he took the time to speak to every body individually and respectfully. My roommate at the time also loved him simply for the fact that even though he had spent a relatively long amount of time in the West, he hadn't changed his igbo accent any bit (maybe the igbo accent is just too thick to be dropped jk). He made me, and hopefully everyone that also attended the workshop, believe we could do or be anything we wanted to. Greatest man I ever met.

Akin-Egba:

If you could read better, you would have noticed that I said academically speaking, just emphasis being on the number of degrees he holds. Holding a degree is not a profession. In any case, if you read the guy's story more than cursorily, you will notice he is already carving a niche even in leadership and mobilization of people for a common good. Moreover, what is banking, accounting, etc compared to Engineering? The guy actually worked in a bank after his BSc as we read. Let an accountant work in an engineering firm as an engineer. I know many engineering graduates who work successfully as bankers, some even holding ICAN qualifications. I do not know of any lawyer or accountant who works as an engineer.

The guy who commented before me even alluded to Ndubuisi Ekekwe's greatness when he wrote, an I quote

Litmus:

Fish = oburu

Igbos eat or used to eat a lot of fish + add as Katsumoto stated = brilliancy

Katsumoto:

It seems that you are alluding to the point that engineers are the most brilliant professionals in Nigeria since engineers can pass ICAN and lawyers can not pass engineering exams.

Akin-Egba:

If you can pass my exams (for which subject you were not trained ab initio) but I cannot pass yours (for which subject I was not trained ab initio) does that not simply mean you are better than me?

Katsumoto:

The question you should be asking is, 'why are engineers taking ICAN exams and accountants are not taking engineering exams?' Could it be because the banking industry is one of the strongest in Nigeria? Are History, Biochemistry, and Art majors not taking ICAN exams in Nigeria?

Akin-Egba:

Which kain question be that? What has a strong banking industry got to do with this topic? The fact that anybody can pass ICAN tells you that it is shittt for all comers, the politics of it in naija apart. Let everybody/accountants go and pass engineering or even lab technology (which falls in the Biochemistry, etc purview) qualifications

Katsumoto:

Are you suggesting that people should just attempt exams in disciplines that are different from theirs just to prove that they can pass them? In case you missed it, Nigerians looking for work have the motivation to attempt and pass ICAN and other banking associated exam so that they can secure job opportunities. Accountants do not have the motivation to pass engineering exams just for the sake of it.