By Babatunde Emmanuel
Ayo Elesho, a graduate of Political Science from the University of Ibadan, has been selected for the Schwarzman Scholars Programme to pursue a fully funded master’s degree in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Ayo is among the less than 3% selected from over 5,800 applicants. He is also one of the few Nigerians selected, the first-ever student from the University of Ibadan to be selected for the programme, and the only Nigerian in the 2027 cohort with 100% Nigerian education.
Celebrating his achievement on his official Facebook page, Ayo described his motivation for applying to the program.
“For six years, I’ve been committed to addressing homelessness in Nigeria. Through my organisation, my team members, volunteers, and I have raised awareness about homelessness among over 10,000 Nigerians and directly impacted 1,000 people. But this impact, when viewed from the standpoint of Nigeria’s over 25 million homeless people, is simply scratching the surface of the problem,” he said.
According to him, understanding the gravity of this problem led him to examine China, which has lifted 800 million of its citizens out of poverty and drastically reduced homelessness through a combination of social, economic, and development policies, an unprecedented achievement in human history.
He added that, “Studying in Beijing will allow me to learn how China has tackled poverty and homelessness over the last four decades, and being a Schwarzman Scholar will expose me to people, resources, and systems that could give me ideas on how to address Nigeria’s homelessness crisis.”
The Schwarzman Scholars program is a fully funded, highly selective one-year master’s degree and leadership program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Credit: Ayo Elesho, Schwarzman Scholars Program
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