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When brilliance is mocked: The ₦200,000 reward that shamed Nigeria

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6 months ago

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Nafisa Aminu

When Brilliance is Mocked: The ₦200,000 Reward that Shamed Nigeria

By: Lamara Garba Azare

In the theatre of nations, where countries display what they value most, Nigeria once again played the wrong script. On the 28th of August, 2025, the Federal Government stood before the world and, with fanfare, announced a ₦200,000 cash reward for Nafisa Abdullahi, a 17-year-old girl from Yobe State, who had just conquered the globe at the TeenEagle Global English Championship in London.

It should have been a moment of national pride the triumph of intellect, the victory of knowledge, the vindication that Nigerian children, though raised in broken classrooms with tattered textbooks, can still outshine peers from nations where education is richly funded. Instead, the moment was reduced to farce.

The prize was ₦200,000. Not a scholarship. Not a lifelong educational support package. Not even a promise of sustained recognition. Just ₦200,000 money that vanishes before the ink on a bank teller’s slip dries. And shamelessly, the same government invited the girl and her parents to travel all the way from Damaturu to Abuja for the presentation. Anyone who knows the realities of transportation, accommodation, and feeding on such a trip will realise that the ₦200,000 reward barely covers the expenses of the journey itself. By the time they return to Yobe, how much of the so-called “national honour” will be left? This is not recognition. This is mockery.

The insult was sharper because of what came before. Just weeks earlier, the same government gave $100,000 each over ₦160 million to Nigerian athletes who returned victorious from global tournaments. Sportsmen celebrated like kings, while a girl who carried Nigeria’s flag through intellect was treated like a beggar appeased with coins. This contrast is not just unfair. It is a scandal. It is a window into the soul of a government that speaks loftily of education but starves it in practice.

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Sports have their place. Football unites nations; athletes inspire. But is it not education that sustains nations long after the cheers in the stadium fade? When Nigeria gave ₦160 million to footballers, it was hailed as generosity. When Nigeria gave ₦200,000 to Nafisa, it exposed a tragic hierarchy of values: here, knowledge is cheap. Here, intellect is disposable. Here, the very foundation of progress is treated as an afterthought.

₦200,000 in today’s Nigeria barely covers a semester’s tuition in a private university. It cannot buy a modest laptop and a year’s reliable internet. It cannot even cover the travel expenses for Nafisa to attend the very competition she conquered, had sponsors not intervened. Meanwhile, ₦160 million is enough to pay for a PhD at Harvard, buy a house in Abuja, and still have funds left to establish a scholarship foundation. This is not about envying athletes. It is about exposing the imbalance in our governance. Why is brawn valued more than brain? Why is intellect seen as unworthy of investment?

This ₦200,000 reward is not just a mistake; it is a philosophy — the philosophy of spectacle over substance. Governments love the visibility of sports victories: stadiums roar, cameras flash, politicians clap. Intellectual triumphs, by contrast, are quieter, less glamorous, and less “profitable” politically. So they are dismissed with tokenism. Yet, it is ideas, not athletics, that build civilizations. Japan rose from the ashes of war not through football, but through science and education. South Korea transformed from poverty to prosperity by grooming engineers, doctors, and innovators. Singapore became a global giant by making education sacred. Nigeria, however, prefers medals to minds, applause to intellect, noise to knowledge.

Imagine if Nafisa’s victory had been met with a life-changing scholarship perhaps to study at one of the world’s leading universities. Imagine if the government had created an “Intellectual Heroes Fund” to support students who conquer global competitions. Imagine if the President himself had hosted her in Aso Rock and told every Nigerian child watching: See what books can do. This is the path to greatness. Instead, Nafisa received ₦200,000 less than what a minister might spend on a single lunch. Her victory, which could have been a rallying point for millions of children, was reduced to a footnote in the news.

Nafisa’s story is not just about her. It is a metaphor for the Nigerian child. In every rural school where pupils sit under leaking roofs, in every city classroom where teachers go unpaid for months, the same message echoes: education is not valued here. How many brilliant youths have fled abroad with their talents because at home they were mocked with crumbs? How many have settled for mediocrity because their society told them that brains don’t matter? When the government presented ₦200,000 to Nafisa, it was not just a gift. It was a signal loud and clear that excellence in education is worth less than a handshake.

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Nigerians, long used to disappointment, still found this too much to swallow. Social media exploded with outrage. One father wrote online: “My daughter saw this story and asked me, Daddy, is it better to be a footballer than to be intelligent? I had no answer.” That is the damage done not just the insult to Nafisa, but the discouragement of millions of children who now see that the path of books leads only to mockery.

Elsewhere in the world, intellectual triumphs are immortalized. Pakistan rallied behind Malala Yousafzai, and today she is a Nobel laureate. India celebrates its top students with scholarships and mentorship. Rwanda invests heavily in its brightest minds. Nigeria, by contrast, splashes billions on politicians’ allowances and football banquets, but offers mere tokens to its intellectual heroes.

This is bigger than Nafisa. It is about the soul of Nigeria. A country that trivializes education cannot develop. A country that rewards muscle over mind will remain trapped in mediocrity. A country that mocks brilliance will drive its best and brightest away. What is needed is not token cash rewards but a shift in philosophy a recognition that investing in education is not charity but national survival.

And yet, Nafisa’s victory must not be lost in the scandal. Despite the mockery of ₦200,000, she remains a shining light. She has proven that Nigerian children can rise above poverty and neglect to shine before the world. Her triumph must inspire, not depress. Let every child know: your worth is not determined by the crumbs offered by government. Knowledge is priceless. Brilliance is its own reward.

In the end, it is Nigeria, not Nafisa, that has been shamed. A nation that rewards genius with peanuts has revealed its poverty of vision. But history is clear: nations that neglect education collapse under ignorance, while those that nurture it rise to greatness. One day, Nigeria will remember that it once mocked brilliance with ₦200,000 and perhaps by then, it will understand the true cost of its shame.

When Brilliance is Mocked: The ₦200,000 Reward that Shamed Nigeria

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The world dislikes the weak, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

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1 week ago

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March 3, 2026

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Former Northern Elders Forum spokesperson, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
Former Northern Elders Forum spokesperson, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

The world dislikes the weak, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

The world dislikes the weak, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

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Our children must be kept away from Obi’s mob

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2 weeks ago

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February 28, 2026

By

Vincent Akanmode
Vincent Akanmode

Our children must be kept away from Obi’s mob

Any Nigerian with an iota of conscience would be miffed at the content of a video that trended on the social media during the week. It was the motion picture of three children whose age ranged between 10 and 12 professing to be supporters of former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi. Oblivious in their pristine innocence that they were being initiated into the triple crimes of lying, cheating and forgery by those who contrived the issuance of voter cards to them, they heartily flaunted the cards meant only for adults above 18 years, threatening to vote Obi in the 2027 elections like they did three years ago.

Instructively, it was Obi’s supporters, led by the then Chief Spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, who embarked on a peaceful protest in Abuja against alleged registration of underage voters in the build-up to the 2023 elections.

During the campaign rallies that preceded the 2023 elections, the world had watched with bated breath as a 15-year-old boy identified as Alabi Quadri jumped into the road arms outstretched as Obi’s convoy approached during a campaign rally in Lagos. I was personally alarmed at the stupidity of young man’s action, seeing the possibility of him being hit by the advancing convoy of vehicles. But while I thought it was the dumbest act anyone could muster, Obi, rather than rebuke Quadri’s foolery, alighted from his vehicle, walked towards the scallywag and embraced him in the full glare of cameras. Obviously, the Labour Party presidential candidate was in full agreement that the rascal did very well staking his life for his (Obi’s) presidential ambition.

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Obi, who had earlier prided himself with not giving shishi (a dime), reportedly rewarded Quadri’s foolhardiness with an unspecified sum of money, which later put him into trouble with his colleagues and earned him a stay in Kirikiri prison for about three months after an alleged frame-up for armed robbery by some thugs in his Amukoko (Lagos) neighbourhood, who were said to be angry that Quadri did not deem them fit for a slice of Obi’s cake. They handed him over to the police, who kept him in custody until some human rights activists intervened and secured his release.

Not surprisingly, many other admirers of Obi celebrated Quadri’s display of obtuseness as a heroic act worthy of emulation by anyone worth the helm of the presidential aspirant’s black gown. Little wonder the teenager’s example has since caught on among his followers with other dumb actions and utterances. Last week, another youthful follower of the mob took the malady to the precincts of blasphemy, saying that Jesus Christ would lose if he contests an election with Obi in Nigeria. And rather than condemnation, this reckless delivery has enjoyed the approval of many Obidient members in a country where religion is as sensitive as the mimosa plant.

And before the dust generated by the sacrilegious utterance could settle, another teenager identified as Mc Aha from Imo State said he would gladly sacrifice his father and mother if that was all Obi needed to become the President of Nigeria. Commendably, the teenager’s obviously embarrassed father did not allow his son’s misguided utterance to go without a consequence. Convinced that the teenager’s outburst bordered more on crime than insanity, he ignored psychiatrists and psychologists and promptly handed his errant son over to the police.

I felt a sense of vindication on learning about the young man’s utterance, because a day or two earlier, I had been viciously attacked on Facebook for sarcastically posting that I once thought of becoming an Obidient but was discouraged by the long and tortuous process of having to undergo a surgery that would remove my brain and replace it with sawdust!

The question then arises: what exactly is the Obidient movement teaching our youths? What impact do Obi and his followers hope to make on the impressionable minds of innocent young boys and girls with the negative messages being passed to them by their mostly reckless, aggressive and abrasive older colleagues? A group that has turned discourtesy into an art. A group that has no place for the African culture of respect for the elder. A group to which age means nothing but sheer number. They address the elderly the same manner they do their apprentices and attack statesmen and eminent public office holders with the venom of a snake. A group whose leader is making a career of de-marketing his country and presenting his land of birth as the heaviest burden the rest of the world bears. What impact?

Our children must be kept away from Obi’s mob

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History and psychoanalysis of El-Rufai’s troubles with Ribadu – Farooq Kperogi

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2 weeks ago

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February 28, 2026

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Kperogi is a renowned columnist and United States-based Professor of Journalism 
Farooq Kperogi

History and psychoanalysis of El-Rufai’s troubles with Ribadu – Farooq Kperogi

Given the depth and intensity of the friendship they cultivated over decades, many people are befuddled by why the personal conflict between former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu has burst into the open with such virulence. As I’ll show, it’s inspired by deep-seated envy, ego trip and bruised self-construal.

Both were born in 1960 (with El-Rufai being about nine months older), graduated from ABU in the 1980s (with El-Rufai graduating three years earlier), have a reputation for boldness and outspokenness, and were stars of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

From the outside looking in, it appears to me that although both men had mutual admiration for each other, the scale tilted a little in favor of El-Rufai. I say this for at least two reasons.

One, according to a recent social media post by presidential aide Gimba Kakanda, who appears to be close to both men, Ribadu named his son in honor of El-Rufai. I am not aware that El-Rufai requited Ribadu’s gesture even though he has had boys. If my assumption is wrong, I apologize. If it’s right, that bespeaks a deep, unspoken, but nonetheless significant inequality in admiration.

Second, on page 358 of El-Rufai’s 2013 autobiography titled The Accidental Public Servant, which has made the social media rounds, El-Rufai revealed that when the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua sought Ribadu’s support to be president and said Obasanjo had already endorsed him, Ribadu rebuffed Yar’Adua, saying, “Well, Obasanjo has not told me, and as far as the presidency is concerned, I have my candidate for president, and that is Nasir El-Rufai. I am going to have to speak to Obasanjo about this.”

So, El-Rufai internalized the asymmetry in their admiration for each other. He took for granted that Ribadu thought higher of him than he did of Ribadu. There can be no greater endorsement of this fact than Ribadu’s perception that El-Rufai was the best Nigerian qualified to succeed Obasanjo.

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However, in 2011, when Bola Ahmed Tinubu was shopping for a young northern candidate to fly the flag of the ACN, he commissioned a public opinion poll to determine which northern candidate enjoyed the most national acceptance, according to Akin Osuntokun’s February 20, 2026, Arise News interview.

Osuntokun not only worked with both men during the Obasanjo presidency, he is also friends with them. Plus, I’ve heard this story from several people close to El-Rufai and Ribadu, but this is the first time it’s out in the open.

Osuntokun’s revelation that the national poll showed Nuhu Ribadu with a significantly higher rating (about 45 percent) compared to Nasir El-Rufai (around seven percent) is consistent with what I’ve heard.

Based on that result, Tinubu backed Ribadu’s candidacy within the ACN. It also marked the beginning of Ribadu’s relationship with Tinubu.

El-Rufai’s exaggerated self-construal of his superiority over Ribadu was badly shattered, and he couldn’t take it. But I am not surprised by the outcome of the poll. It occurred at the height of Ribadu’s popularity in the country.

As I pointed out in a past column, my own paternal uncle, a UK-educated health professional, named his son Ribadu, not Nuhu, in honor of Nuhu Ribadu’s exploits at the EFCC. When I told him Ribadu is the name of a town in Adamawa State where Nuhu hails from, he was surprised. We still laugh over it.

El-Rufai’s ego was badly bruised because he had a hard time accepting that Ribadu, who didn’t think of himself as presidential material in 2007 and who instead thought El-Rufai should succeed Obasanjo, should be considered worthier of being president in 2011 by more Nigerians. As a result, the previously impregnable walls of friendship between them began to collapse irretrievably.

By 2015, El-Rufai rode on the coattails of Muhammadu Buhari to become governor of Kaduna State. According to people familiar with the dynamics of their relationship, El-Rufai studiously used his influence in the Buhari government to exclude Ribadu.

But by 2023, when Tinubu became president, Ribadu got his groove back. El-Rufai believes that the rejection of his ministerial nomination by the Senate on “security” grounds was inspired by Ribadu, who was retaliating for El-Rufai’s own underhanded exclusion of Ribadu during the Buhari presidency.

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Most regular people with no hangups would take it in their stride and wait for their “time.” But El-Rufai isn’t a “regular” person. He must be in on the action or everything must be scattered. So, he set out to do at least three things to get at Ribadu: 1. Show that Ribadu is dangerous and vindictive. 2. Show that he is incompetent. 3. Show that he is a craven fellow who can’t return, much less match, El-Rufai’s lethal rhetorical salvos.

These points overlap. If you are vindictive but are afraid of being seen as such, then you’re a coward. If you’re a coward and you control the security of the country, then you’re also incompetent. If you don’t respond to my personal attacks, it’s because you fear that I’ll reveal more damaging information and also lack the rhetorical and intellectual firepower to fight back, which harkens back to your fitness for the job of protecting the country.

Of course, El-Rufai knows that Ribadu is anything but a coward. In The Accidental Public Servant, El-Rufai recounts an incident from their undergraduate days at Ahmadu Bello University to illustrate what he presents as Ribadu’s boldness.

According to El-Rufai, Ribadu was confronted by an armed robber who pointed a gun at him. Instead of complying or retreating, Ribadu slapped the robber and challenged him.

El-Rufai told the anecdote as an example of Ribadu’s fearlessness and impulsive self-confidence during their student years and to sketch Ribadu’s temperament early on, suggesting that Ribadu’s later public persona as an anti-corruption crusader was consistent with traits visible even as an undergraduate.

In his only public reaction to El-Rufai’s constant personal attacks, Ribadu was conciliatory and even-tempered. “Despite the incessant baiting and attacks, I have never spoken ill of Nasir on record anywhere,” he wrote on February 24, 2025. “This is out of respect for our past association and our respective families. I will not start today.”

El-Rufai’s supporters read the statement, whose grace should have disarmed anyone, as evidence of cowardice. But had he attacked El-Rufai back in the fashion that El-Rufai savaged him, the public, which tends to side with the underdog (in this case anyone outside the orbit of the reigning government), would see El-Rufai as the victim and Ribadu as the villain.

This gave El-Rufai the illusion that he was winning the war and led him to dig in even deeper with that self-sabotaging Arise News interview, which overstepped the bounds of reasonableness and landed him in the hot water he is in now.

In spite of people’s natural predilection to sympathize with the underdog, outside of partisan political circles, El-Rufai’s troubles aren’t eliciting the profusion of support, outrage and empathy anyone else would have received. And it’s because he is being given a taste of his own medicine.

For those who want to sympathize with him, which is perfectly legitimate, I leave you with these words he uttered on January 22, 2012, at the Yar’Adua Center, Abuja, at a presentation at the T2T (Transformed To Transform) Nigeria Conference for Youth Corps Members:

“We have no politics of public interest or public good. And you know the politicians proudly tell you that politics is about interest. If they don’t get what they want, they’re ready to collapse the system.

“Every military coup in Nigeria’s history was engineered by civilians. They have lost elections, right or wrongly. If a politician contests for a position and he doesn’t get it, he’ll not support a party member that got the nomination.

“He would rather move to the opposition and ensure that the person that defeated him fair and square loses the election. So, we have a political culture where the primacy of personal interest trumps everything else.

“Now, what is the difference between human beings and animals? So it is with most Nigerian politicians: everyone for himself, no one for the country, no one even for the party. It’s an interesting political culture. And it’s ingrained. Politicians believe that is the way, that is politics, and to change it will take quite an effort. This is a problem.”

History and psychoanalysis of El-Rufai’s troubles with Ribadu – Farooq Kperogi

Kperogi is a renowned Nigerian columnist and United States-based Professor of Journalism.

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