₦airaland Forum

Samuel Badekale, the University of Lagos graduate who was widely celebrated for completing a Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology and Genetics with a perfect CGPA of 5.00, has been awarded the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s in Bio-membranes scholarship.

PUNCH Online learnt that the 2023/2024 Overall Best Graduating Student and Best in Sciences was the only Nigerian and West African recipient of the highly competitive award.

The European Union-funded programme will see Badekale study across three of Europe’s leading universities over the next two years: Université Côte d’Azur in France, University of Genoa in Italy, and University of Osnabrück in Germany.

The curriculum spans cutting-edge fields including Membrane Biology, Neuroscience, and Experimental Medicine.

Announcing the news on Friday on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Badekale wrote, ”2025 has been amazing in every way!

“Pleased to announce the next step in my journey: selected as the only Nigerian and West African for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s in Biomembranes, studying across three world-class universities in France, Italy and Germany.

“As I look back, I see a young boy from Mushin, with a big dream: to explore the world and make a positive impact on the world.

“And today, by God’s faithfulness, that dream is gradually becoming a reality.

“Truly, ‘with God, every dream is achievable, even those that seem impossible.’”

He further urged young people to embrace education as a tool for global opportunities.

“To my younger self and every student out there: Trust God.

“Hold your education tightly. Come out with the best grades possible, strive for excellence, because education is still one of the most powerful keys to move from your local community to the global stage.

“Education isn’t a scam. It’s a weapon. Use it.

“Learn more about the programme on its LinkedIn page,” Badekale concluded.

The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Plus programme is designed to equip scholars with interdisciplinary expertise, preparing them for careers as practitioners, researchers, or decision-makers in biomedical and related fields.

Source: https://punchng.com/unilag-first-class-graduate-wins-scholarship-to-study-in-france-italy-germany/

Congratulations Bade.

Na now work start 4u bro, coz for the next 10-20years, you'll never smell freedom, na soso sleepless night doing research and related stuffs, working for someone (probably even a coutry) and listening to instructions even with promotions. U'll have to be at par or higher than others in ur crew.

With some cool Benjamins in ur bank account no doubt. I pray it all works out 4u man coz na now legit hustle start. Best of luck SAMUEL. 👍

Great.


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Oga calm down, go and study in the USA...

You applied for PhD in the USA you will definitely get fully funded Doctoral Research or Instructional Assistant positions...

Reach out to Professors, share your story, passion and aspirations with the them...

Avoid all those European countries

Na wire go end am.
Time to on system and bomb

Congratulations to him.

It is heartwarming to see him moving up.

While Erasmus Mundus is highly competitive, the universities listed are not top universities in Europe and worldwide.

However, since it is full scholarship, I'd advice him to do the two years and apply for PhDs in the United States. With his talent, he'd break grounds in the US. Europe is lagging behind in biological research and experimental medicine.

Congratulations, slay king.
The result of staying very far away from campus slay queens and destiny wreckers.

Mmesoma and her people left the group chat....congrats sir! 😁

Natbrowny:
Congratulations Bade.

Na now work start 4u bro, coz for the next 10-20years, you'll never smell freedom, na soso sleepless night doing research and related stuffs, working for someone (probably even a coutry) and listening to instructions even with promotions. U'll have to be at par or higher than others in ur crew.

With some cool Benjamins in ur bank account no doubt. I pray it all works out 4u man coz na now legit hustle start. Best of luck SAMUEL. 👍

Indeed, it’s a great win for him and the country that he decides to japa to.

Is it a win for our country or a loss since he will primarily contribute towards the development of the host country?

anonimi:
David Hundeyin
May 4, 2022


I want to sell a script to a Hollywood studio. The story is about a guy who owns a farm that constantly runs at a loss but never quite shuts down.

The farm is massive and underutilised, and the protagonist has all the opportunities in the world to improve its output and get a bumper harvest.

He has access to credit, machinery, free irrigation and gifts from neighbouring farmers, but all he ever does with these things is drink and smoke them away while his family suffers.

Nigeria has refused to grow up and achieve something, but it somehow feels as if it is living vicariously through the achievements of its estranged children around the world

Apart from drinking, smoking and generally being utterly useless, his other pastime is to pump out children at an industrial rate. Needless to say, he takes no care of his children whatsoever, and many of them fail to survive childhood.

Those who do survive have to leave the farm and hire themselves out as hired labour to the neighbouring farmers, having picked up some survival skills from home.

With time, a number of them rise through the ranks and become senior managers, directors and even shareholders in these other farms while their father continues mismanaging his farm.

When good news about some of these successful children gets home, their father is filled with pride and joy, but when they end up on the wrong side of life, he acts as if he never knew them.

The successful ones make efforts to revamp their childhood home by sending back money and volunteering their skills and time, but all this guy ever wants to do is be a 62-year-old underachieving idiot carried through life by charity and luck.

Famzing” diaspora success is dishonest
I’m sure before the end of the second paragraph, you figured out whose story I was telling. The 62-year story of post-independence Nigeria — which the Hollywood studio would surely reject for being too sad with no redemption — is that of our fictional antihero.

Nigeria has refused to grow up and achieve something, but it somehow feels as if it is living vicariously through the achievements of its estranged children around the world.

Remember how everyone from corporate brands to Abike Dabiri made a big song and dance about supporting Anthony Joshua the “Nigerian,” whose only chance to become someone in life came when his parents emigrated from Nigeria?

Remember how things turned when he somehow lost against that chubby Mexican dude whose name I can’t remember? Remember when the Super Falcons won the female AFCON title and received a congratulatory tweet from the president, only for them to have to stage a protest before being paid their camp allowances?

That’s what we do in Nigeria. We try to live vicariously through the achievements of people who have achieved great things under their own steam, simply because said people happen to be called ‘Ifeoma,’ ‘Efe’ and ‘Ayotunde.’

Even when Nigeria had absolutely nothing to do with said success, or in fact happened in spite of Nigeria, as with Divine Oduduru, we bask in the reflected glory of their personal achievements.

Sometimes when those people wear a Nigerian flag or post something about Wizkid or Jollof Rice on Instagram, we go crazy with the Nigerian flag emojis because oh my god, they identify with us!

This is not about being a Killjoy
Somehow, the complete failure of Nigeria and our complicity in its failure is more bearable when we point at Nigerian immigrants doing great things in life and say “I knew Femi before he started calling himself Anthony.

His father and I were classmates in Aiyetoro.” It is unclear how exactly this helps our situation but hey, it’s also unclear how chugging the amount of alcohol we do helps either.

Escapism is a key part of our culture, and anyone who dissents must be a non-Jollof-eating, vegetarian heretic, and possibly also an atheist.

Now while all this is painfully cringey to my eyes, some will also point out that Nigeria is not the only country that has a weird obsession with its diaspora population.

Even ‘first-world’ countries like Ireland continue to have deep emotional and economic connections to their diaspora, and in any case Nigerians proudly supporting Anthony Joshua or the NBA’s Giannis Ante…African-sounding-name is basically harmless fun. They’re not hurting anyone. Why be such a killjoy, David?

The reason this matters can be found in a quote that has been dubiously attributed to Russian President Vladmir Putin, where he describes Africa as the place where its diaspora does not invest in, but returns to only to die and be buried with their ancestors.

While there is no concrete evidence that Mr. Putin ever actually made that comment, the truth in it is painfully poignant.

For diaspora success to be meaningful to Nigeria, it must correlate to on-ground results in Nigeria. The example of Somalia shows that having a well-educated, globally successful diaspora while being an absolute basket case are both possible at the same time.

I’d imagine we do not aspire to be Somalia.

School na scam joor. After all no work . Lolll. Empty brains 🧠 dey console themselves.

What parent wouldn’t take pride in having such a child?


Make wuna dey follow opueh & useless entertainment updanda.

Congratulations to him!

Germany should be his top on the list

Germany it is!

SpatialKing:
Oga calm down, go and study in the USA...

You applied for PhD in the USA you will definitely get fully funded Doctoral Research or Instructional Assistant positions...

Reach out to Professors, share your story, passion and aspirations with the them...

Avoid all those European countries

That’s true sha…

USA should be his top destination for now

Anything short of that, Germany is not bad too

Effect of God and Church can't be under estimated. Congratulations Samuel omo Badekale ore mi. God bless you.

The Pablo’s will never listen!

They are saving up fraud proceeds to feed family members and raise children as if Karma has repented.

Go make us proud Bro!

My highly esteemed , respected and Honorable self, and His Excellency, President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), are both wishing you the very best in all your future endeavors.

YORUBA LAGBA!

Congratulations bro.





xxxxxxxxxxx

Brain drain. Byebye Master Samuel. Go and shine. Which way Nigeria?

He should just go in peace before his village people remembers him.

During classes, lectures you will be doing like you don't care about your fellow classmates, courses mates. Also during exams and texts you will cover your answer scripts, you won't let others peep through your papers and you always stingy with your writing materials. You don't help anyone during exams and texts. Because you are chasing first class alone, now you have it clap for yourself.
Smh

Nigeria needs to protect this guy and treat him like a national asset.

Imagine a 5/5 CGPA, this is not extraordinary alone, this is genius ! He had straight As till graduation.

His course of study Cell-Biology will be more useful to Sub-Saharan Africa than Europe as such should be encouraged to pursue related research topic.

With eyes like that, wetin e gain e fit nor face em studies

Guys like this are usually the type who wanted and were exceptionally qualified to study medicine but fate didn't make it materialize. So, finding themselves studying such a course becomes a piece of cake.

Nigeria to the world 🌎
We are amazing like that jare...

SpatialKing:
Oga calm down, go and study in the USA...

You applied for PhD in the USA you will definitely get fully funded Doctoral Research or Instructional Assistant positions...

Reach out to Professors, share your story, passion and aspirations with the them...

Avoid all those European countries

US embassy don't care about your scholarship. Let him go to Europe or scholarship students don't apply for visa? Getting Visa date alone is frustrating. Say what u know. He can apply for phd through US embassy in Europe after his European tour

emkz:
Congratulations to him.

It is heartwarming to see him moving up.

While Erasmus Mundus is highly competitive, the universities listed are not top universities in Europe and worldwide.

However, since it is full scholarship, I'd advice him to do the two years and apply for PhDs in the United States. With his talent, he'd break grounds in the US. Europe is lagging behind in biological research and experimental medicine.

well said but he is on the right part... getting this scholarship alone is a boost when sending professors emails

lightwind:
During classes, lectures you will be doing like you don't care about your fellow classmates, courses mates. Also during exams and texts you will cover your answer scripts, you won't let others peep through your papers and you always stingy with your writing materials. You don't help anyone during exams and texts. Because you are chasing first class alone, now you have it clap for yourself.
Smh

do you know the guy personally or u are talking from another first class student perspective?

OboOlora:
With eyes like that, wetin e gain e fit nor face em studies

tinubu has such eyes and he is the president? So rest O

flyinnizam:
US embassy don't care about your scholarship. Let him go to Europe or scholarship students don't apply for visa? Getting Visa date alone is frustrating. Say what u know. He can apply for phd through US embassy in Europe after his European tour

They do

Once you are fully funded for PhD especially in a STEM program... You are 95% granted of Visa approval..

There is nothing I Europe in terms of Jobs and opportunities

SpatialKing:
They do

Once you are fully funded for PhD especially in a STEM program... You are 95% granted of Visa approval..

There is nothing I Europe in terms of Jobs and opportunities

Germany has opportunities but how will u get visa date oga? No visa date this year again sef