Mustapha Muhammad Tukur
Maniru Ibrahim is a native of Rijiyar Dorawa area of Sokoto state and also a first class graduate of Mathematics from the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.
Maniru has won an international studentship PhD scholarship at Limerick University, Ireland.
The scholarship is a €20million funded program by the Science Foundation Ireland(SFI) centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science.
The programme provides a tax-free stipend of €18,500 per annum for 4 years during which time the candidate will work towards a PhD.
The Centre for Research Training (CRT) budget includes additional allowances for travel and accommodation costs related to visits to CRT partner institutions, industry and enterprise partners, international collaborators, and attendance at national and international conferences.
Maniru, in an exclusive interview with Daily Star Nigeria, narrated how his journey began right from undergraduate, MSc and how he was shortlisted for the first-of-its-kind PhD program.
“I am an indigene of Sokoto state, from Rijiyar Dorawa area. I did my primary and secondary schools all in sokoto and finally graduated with a first class degree from department of mathematics, Usmanu Danfodio Universty Sokoto in the year 2017 and did National Youth Service Corps NYSC, in the year 2018 to 2019 in Zamfara state.
“I started working with an ICT company in Sokoto, JD Creative Hub when I applied for an MSc program at International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy, which is a joint program with Pakistan, and God so kind, 3 of us from Africa were shortlisted, out of which 2 of us are from Nigeria.
On the issue of the PhD scholarship, Manir said he had applied in numerous universities and had gotten over 20 rejection letters before he finally scaled through.
“I am currently in my final Msc year, so I started applying for PhD program ahead of time at different universities where I received over 20 rejection letters before I finally made it on my last attempt.
“At first I was a bit discouraged and frustrated, but when I saw this scholarship, I just decided to give it a trial, and gratefully, I made it.
“The program is first of its kind and I am the only African among the shortlisted candidates. It’s a program about industry. ICT related problems will be dealt with in order to provide more and more solutions in order to make life and Technology easier.”
Maniru later called on all Nigerian youths to discover their potential and utilise it as “we all are individually endowed with numerous potential”, he said while urging them to stay focused and never give up.