My Journey to Our
Shared Responsibility

There was a time in my life when the question was not which university I would attend, but whether I could afford the examinations that would give me a chance to attend one at all.

As a young man in Ibadan, Nigeria, I worked as a casual labourer cutting grass at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The work was physically demanding, and there were days when I had very little to eat. Yet I saved what I earned, often at the expense of immediate needs, because I needed to pay for JAMB, Post-UTME, and the tuition and academic fees that would follow if I secured admission. I was not saving for comfort. I was saving for a possibility.

I still remember what that season taught me: the distance between a young person and an education can be measured in something as ordinary: and as consequential: as an examination fee. Talent does not make that fee disappear. Determination does not always put food on the table. For many students, the obstacle is not a lack of ambition or ability. It is the absence of a bridge between the two and the opportunity to move forward.

“Gratitude should not end with remembering the people who helped us. It should move us to become part of someone else’s story of possibility.”

My parents made sacrifices that sustained me, even when our resources were stretched. Later, scholarships, academic opportunities, and people willing to invest in my potential changed the course of my life. I studied Physics at the University of Ibadan. An opportunity through the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics took me to Italy for postgraduate study. That journey eventually opened another door to the United States, where I pursued graduate education and doctoral research. None of those milestones erases the years that came before them. If anything, they make those years more meaningful.

I believe deeply that God has guided my journey. My faith is personal, but the responsibility it has impressed upon me is practical: gratitude should not end with remembering the people who helped us. It should move us to become part of someone else’s story of possibility.

This is why I established Michael Oyelakin Initiatives. It is both a response to what I experienced and a recognition of what I have seen in others: capable students working extraordinarily hard, yet facing financial and informational barriers that can quietly close doors. A student should not have to abandon an educational ambition because an examination fee is beyond reach. An undergraduate should not have to navigate career decisions without access to someone who can offer informed, honest guidance.

Through our scholarship pathway, we address critical stages of educational access, from WAEC or NECO examinations to JAMB, Post-UTME, and support the most outstanding eligible student admitted to a federal or state university in Nigeria. Through our fellowship, we connect undergraduates with professionals who can share their experience, challenge their thinking, and help them develop practical direction. We believe financial support and mentorship are most powerful when they are intentional, accountable, and responsive to the individual.

I do not imagine that one initiative can remove every barrier. But I know the significance of one opportunity arriving at the right time. I have lived it. And I know that when we create those opportunities together: with educators, mentors, families, and supporters: we do more than help a student cross a single threshold. We give that student a stronger chance to shape what comes next.

My hope is simple: that the circumstances into which a young person is born will not have the final word on what they are able to become. That is the work to which I am committing myself, and I invite others who share this conviction to be part of it.