President Bola Tinubu has congratulated six distinguished Diaspora Nigerians named among the 400 Presidential Early Career Award recipients for Scientists and Engineers in the United States.
The prestigious recognition, established by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, is the highest honour bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers.
This year’s awardees, announced by President Joe Biden on 14 January 2025, are employed or funded by 14 participating United States government agencies.
In a statement on Thursday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu commended the Nigerians for their remarkable achievements in science, technology and engineering.
The statement added: “The Nigerian honorees include Azeez Butali, Gilbert Lilly Endowed Professor of Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa; Ijeoma Opara, Associate Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences), Yale School of Public Health, Yale University; and Oluwatomi Akindele, Postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“Others are Eno Ebong, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biology at Northeastern University; Oluwasanmi Koyejo, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University; and Abidemi Ajiboye, Executive Vice Chair of the Case School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University.
“The Nigerian leader notes that recognising these exceptional talents underscores Nigerians’ vast potential to excel both at home and on the global stage.
“He looks forward to the honorees sharing their multidisciplinary expertise to benefit Nigeria’s development efforts under the Renewed Hope Agenda”.
