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A few weeks ago, I was on a podcast with Kayode Oki-kiolu, a respected journalist and host of the podcast, The Rooftop. In the middle of our conversation, he asked a simple but piercing question. Why do Nigerians seem to excel when they are outside the Nigerian system?
It is one of those questions that sounds casual, but carries weight. Because the truth is, he is right, and the data supports him. In the United States alone, Nigerians are among the most educated immigrant groups. Studies show that about 61 per cent of Nigerians in the US hold college degrees, compared to roughly 31 per cent of the overall foreign born population and about 32 per cent of US born citizens. In certain professional fields, the numbers are even more striking. There was a case at Howard University where Nigerians made up 43 of 96 pharmacy graduates in a single class. That is pure talent!
So the question remains. Why does this pattern repeat itself across countries, industries, and generations? The answer is not as simple as talent. Success is rarely built on talent alone. It is built on a combination of talent, intentional systems, support, and access to opportunity. Remove any one of these, and the outcome changes.
Let me make this personal. ran track and field in high school and was fortunate to rank among the top athletes in the country. That journey eventually earned me an athletic scholarship. On the surface, it might look like a simple story of talent meeting opportunity. But the reality is more layered.
I had access to a school where I could train daily. I had a gym where I could build strength. I had coaches who invested in my development without asking for payment. I competed in organized leagues across the country. I had guidance on how to navigate the path to university athletics. And when the time came, there were institutions with the resources to support me.
Yes, I was talented. But talent alone would not have been enough. The system carried me.
Even when personal finances were limited, the structure around me ensured that my growth was not restricted by circumstance. Public funding, community investment, and organized programmes created a level playing field. The system did not ask where I came from. It simply asked what I could do and then gave me the tools to do it better. That is the difference.
When I became a city councillor in the city of Kitchener, I saw the system being built intentionally. City of Kitchener wanted to see more of its local students make it into the NBA and NHL. This required us to have local facilities, create policies that gave access to people, regardless of their family’s income. I saw firsthand how the system was built.
What we celebrate 20 years later was started at council chambers. We were building a system to support our local talent!
Today, Africans across North America and Europe are thriving. Doctors, engineers, athletes, academics. Many of them carry the same raw talent they had back home. What changed was the environment around them.
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We often celebrate their success, and rightly so. But we must also ask a harder question. Why did it take leaving home for that talent to fully blossom?
The uncomfortable truth is that talent without structure struggles to thrive. We see this clearly in sports. A recent headline described the French national football team as the Avengers, a playful reference to its diversity and strength. Look closely, and a percentage of those players are of African descent. The Canadian national team, which recently made history by qualifying for the World Cup, tells a similar story, with many players tracing their roots back to Africa. Different countries. Same pattern.
Africa is not short on talent. It may be one of the most talent rich regions in the world. What is missing is the system that consistently identifies, develops, and supports that talent. Talent in education, sports, technology, business and more. To understand this better, I often break it down into a simple framework. POWER.
Potential is where it all begins. This is the raw ability, the natural gift. Africa has this in abundance. From the streets of Lagos to the neighborhoods of Accra, talent is everywhere.
Opportunity is where the gap starts to show. Talent needs structured environments to grow. Facilities, programmes, and consistent training are not luxuries. They are necessities. Too often, access to these is limited to a small segment of the population.
Wisdom speaks to coaching and guidance. Talent without direction can remain stagnant. Every great athlete, professional, or leader has benefited from someone who helped refine their abilities and shape their thinking. At the grassroots level, this is often missing.
Engagement is about competition and exposure. Talent must be tested. It must be challenged. Organized competitions provide not just development, but visibility. Without them, even the most gifted individuals remain unseen.
Recognition is the final piece. Systems must exist to identify and promote talent. Scouts, platforms, and networks play a critical role in ensuring that ability does not go unnoticed. Without recognition, opportunity rarely follows.
When these elements work together, talent thrives. When they are absent or disconnected, talent struggles.
This is not just a sports conversation. It applies to business, technology, education, and leadership. We talk about building the next generation of CEOs, innovators, and global leaders. But without systems, we are leaving too much to chance.
Yes, some individuals will succeed despite the odds. They will break through and become global outliers. But a nation cannot build its future on outliers. The real question is how to make excellence the norm rather than the exception.
So back to Kayode’s question, Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, does not lack intelligence or talent. It does not lack drive. What it needs is alignment. Systems and structures that match its ambition. Until then, the pattern will continue. A few of Africa’s talent will emerge. Opportunity will be found elsewhere. And we will continue to celebrate from a distance. It does not have to remain that way.
• Owodunni is City Councilor of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
