Young Nigerians Encouraged To Apply For Mandela Washington Fellowship

Nigerian youths have been encouraged to apply for the Mandela
Washington Fellowship programme for 2015.

Mandela Washington Fellows, Rita Omovbude and Ebuka Emebinah, were
guests on Rubbin' Minds on Channels Television on Sunday to share
their experiences while undergoing the programme in the United States.

Omovbude said that earlier in 2014, about 50,000 Africans applied for
the Mandela Washington Fellowship, out of which only 500 were
selected, with 44 coming from Nigeria.

With participants sent to undergo six-week trainings in different
universities in the US, they were trained in three main areas of
Business and Entrepreneur, Public Management and Civic Leadership,
while some were also given the opportunity to stay back for
internships.

Describing the application process, Rita explained how she applied and
got selected for the programme. She recalled that in one of the essays
they were required to write, she had to imagine herself being Nigerian
President.

Sharing her experience from the fellowship, she highlighted networking
with 500 African youths on the programme as a major opportunity she
got, asides the academic and leadership trainings.

Ebuka Emebinah explained that the annual programme which was initiated
by US President, Barrack Obama, was designed to help develop the human
capital on the African continent.

President Obama, according to him, believes that Africa's problem is
manpower, and because most of Africa's manpower is young, there was
needto target these young people who are assuming leadership positions
in their communities and professions.

For the 2015 programme, Emebinah disclosed that there is usually a
strong bias for gender balance and the fellowship has encouraged more
women to apply.

He revealed that it has been decided that the selection for the 2015
programme would also accommodate an equal distribution women and men,
adding that people in the rural areas and in government are also
encouraged to apply in order to fill up the 50 slots allocated to
Nigeria.

Nigerian youths not older that 35 years are encouraged to visit
www.youngafricanleader s.state.govto fill the application form to
register their interest to be part of the selection process.

A good command of the English language is, however, one of the
criteria for selection, as they would be required to write several
essays and at a stage would be invited to defend their ideas before a
panel.
--Channels