Tag Archives for education

NaijaCoder at the University of Lagos (UNILAG)

Last year, NaijaCoder started hosting its Lagos camp at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). The Abuja camp started in 2022.

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is a leading public research university in Lagos, Nigeria. It is often celebrated as “the University of First Choice and the Nation’s Pride.” Founded in 1962, UNILAG was established shortly after Nigeria’s independence as one of the country’s first generation universities. Over the past six decades, it has grown into one of Nigeria’s most prestigious institutions. I’ll briefly discuss UNILAG’s rich history and highlight recent NaijaCoder camps at UNILAG’s Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Lab (AirLab). The goal of this post is not to provide a comprehensive overview of UNILAG but to highlight NaijaCoder’s connections to the university.

A Brief History of UNILAG

UNILAG was established by an Act of Parliament in 1962 as an immediate response to the national need for a competent professional workforce to drive Nigeria’s social, economic, and political development. (At the time, I believe the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria was still Lagos.) UNILAG opened its doors on October 22, 1962, starting with just 131 students, but rapidly expanded in scope and enrollment. By 1964, additional faculties such as Arts, Education, Engineering, and Science had been added to the original three faculties (Business & Social Studies, Law, and Medicine). This early growth set the stage for UNILAG’s transformation into a comprehensive university. Today, the university enrolls tens of thousands of students and operates across three campuses in Lagos: the main campus at Akoka in Yaba, the College of Medicine at Idi-Araba, and a smaller campus at Yaba for radiography. (I’m currently writing this post at the Akoka campus.)

From its inception, UNILAG played a critical role in Nigeria’s development. During the decades when Lagos was the nation’s capital, the university became a key intellectual hub influencing politics and public policy. Its student body was notably diverse and cosmopolitan, attracting talent from different regions and economic backgrounds, which helped cultivate a generation of educated Nigerians poised to lead in various sectors. Over the years, UNILAG has weathered challenges, such as economic downturns in the 1980s that strained facilities and led to some brain drain, but it rebounded by expanding revenue streams, improving its academic reputation, and drawing in more students. By 2011, enrollment had grown to over 39,000, a far cry from the 131 pioneer students in 1962. In recent times, student population figures have exceeded 57,000 annually, reflecting UNILAG’s status as one of Nigeria’s largest and most in-demand universities. In fact, it is one of the country’s most competitive schools for admissions.

University leadership has made it clear that research and innovation are at the heart of UNILAG’s future trajectory. Professor Folasade Ogunsola, who became UNILAG’s first female Vice-Chancellor in 2022, has articulated a vision to make UNILAG a “future-ready, research-oriented and enterprise-driven hub.” She introduced a strategic framework with the acronym “FIRM” – focusing on Financial re-engineering, Infrastructural development, Reputation building through teaching/research/innovation, and Manpower development. A major part of this vision, it seems, is strengthening research output and global partnerships (through initiatives like NaijaCoder partnerships).

NaijaCoder Camps at UNILAG AIRLab (2024 & 2025) – Empowering the Next Generation

NaijaCoder is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching algorithms to young Nigerians. In the summers of 2024 and 2025, UNILAG’s AIRLab (AI and Robotics Lab) partnered with NaijaCoder to run intensive camps in Lagos. Prof. Chika Yinka-Banjo is the director of the AIRLab; she has been instrumental in bringing the program to Lagos, from initial recruiting to daily daily logistics to TA recruitment.

In Summer 2024, the Lagos NaijaCoder camp was held right on UNILAG’s campus in collaboration with the AIRLab. For 14 days, about 50 students (mostly teens) immersed themselves in learning the basics of algorithms at the UNILAG AI & Robotics Lab. The curriculum introduced the participants to core concepts in an accessible way. The camp instructors covered everything from basic Python programming syntax and data types, to loops and recursion, searching and sorting algorithms, basic data structures, and use of python libraries. By the final days, students were applying their knowledge to solve problems and took an exam/competition to cap off their learning. The hands-on sessions were facilitated by instructors from NaijaCoder alongside UNILAG volunteers. Following the success of the 2024 program, we just finished Week 1 of NaijaCoder at the UNILAG AIRLab this summer (Summer 2025).

At NaijaCoder, we look forward to continued collaboration with UNILAG to bring computing-related curricula to classrooms across Nigeria.

Academia is Not Perfect But It Can Be Transformative

That’s my office at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Come say hi!

Academia is not perfect. But for many of us, it remains the most accessible and reliable system we have for helping people, especially students from disadvantaged backgrounds, achieve economic, social, and intellectual mobility.

This truth came into sharp focus again as I listened to the powerful 2025 Harvard commencement address by a fellow immigrant, born in Ethiopia. You can watch it here. Like the speaker, I came to the United States as an “alien”—driven by hope, hard work, and a belief that education could change lives. And it has. I’m now a Harvard-trained professor, and I can honestly say that academia has transformed not only my life but the lives of my family and friends. Thank you academia!

But I didn’t always feel this way.

There have been moments when I was ready to walk away from it all, when the “ivory tower” felt more like a fortress of burnout, ego, and misplaced priorities than a place for learning and growth. Let me share one example. It’s not the only one, but it’s seared into my memory.

Fall 2017: My Worst Semester in Graduate School

It was my hardest semester. Many friends (mostly at Harvard and MIT) were struggling. Struggling with research, personal issues, mental health. The pressure was suffocating. Then in October, a devastating event happened. An amazing Harvard undergraduate student that I knew passed away. It shook the community. You can read about one account of that time in this Crimson article. But the article only scratches the surface. Behind closed doors, people were hurting.

The very next day, I remember writing to a colleague: “I’m done with academia.” I was angry, heartbroken, and disillusioned. How could we call this a place of learning when the well-being of students seemed like an afterthought?

At one point, I told a friend: “Even if I finish my PhD, I can’t become a professor. There’s too much blood on the hands of professors. I don’t want to be part of a system that prioritizes awards, grants, and prestige over the health and wellness of students.”

That was my truth then.

The System Is Flawed—But We’re Also Part of It

The reality is that academia is both a system and a community. And like all systems, it reflects the values of those who participate in it. Professors, students, administrators: we all carry some responsibility. Systemic change requires constant reform. It also requires courage.

I often wonder why so many brilliant people end up in industry (e.g., Google Brain), seemingly leaving academia behind. For some, it’s about opportunity. For others, it’s about survival.

But over time, my perspective has shifted. I’ve encountered professors who are deeply committed to their students’ growth and well-being. I’ve seen programs and projects that genuinely change lives. And I’ve come to realize that as long as I can stay true to my principles, and use my position to help others, I’m okay with failing by some external metric. In fact, I welcome it.

Because anyone who isn’t failing at something is probably not trying hard enough.

Reaching Out and Reaching Forward

If you’re struggling in school, you’re not alone. Maybe you’re in school to support your family. That’s valid. Maybe you’re there because you love to learn. That’s valid too. There’s no “wrong” reason to be in school, only your own journey to make sense of.

As a professor, my job isn’t just to teach. It’s to help you grow and to build a support network around you. There will be hard times. But we can face them together.

Over the past few years, I’ve found the deepest meaning in my work with NaijaCoder, an initiative aimed at empowering young people in Nigeria through technical education. Watching our alumni grow and excel has been one of the greatest joys of my life. It reminds me that education is not about titles or tenure. It’s about transformation.

A Hopeful Commitment

Yes, the system needs fixing. But I haven’t given up on academia. Not because it’s perfect, but because it’s possible to make it better. Because there are still people who care more about students than status. Because in every classroom, in every lab, in every student from Lagos to Urbana-Champaign, I see potential.

To every student reading this: Relax, and reach out. You don’t have to do it alone. And to every professor: Let’s do better. Our legacy is not in our publications, but in the people we uplift.

P.S. If you’re in a tough place right now, please know that it’s OK to ask for help. Failing isn’t the end. It’s often the beginning of something more honest, more human, and more lasting.

Annual Report for 2023

Every year, I get annual reports for some organizations that I’m affiliated with (e.g., the Simons Foundation). The Annual Report summarizes what the organization accomplished through grant-making, in-house research, outreach activities, and so on. The report is both reflective and forward-looking. In the final blog post of this year, I will write a brief annual report for myself.

Harvard Commencement 2023

Technically, I earned my Ph.D. in 2022: I defended and submitted my dissertation in the 2022 calendar year. But I did not attend the 2022 commencement ceremony as I knew it would take significant effort to have a subset of my extended family attend the ceremony. In 2023, the Alabi family showed up and it was a glorious way to officially culminate my graduate career. Sometimes, I think the general public underestimates how much support from friends/family is necessary to succeed in academia (especially, during the latter years of the Ph.D. when the dissertation writing process is more likely to be more isolating than earlier years). I am blessed to have a strong support network of friends and family.

NaijaCoder

The NaijaCoder 2023 summer camp took place in Abuja, Nigeria. Alida Monaco and I were the main instructors for the class of 2023. The camp ran for 2 weeks. Every day, we had 6-hour lectures with a lunch break. Despite the intense schedule, the students were really engaged in class 🔥🧠.

The 2023 camp was physically located in the premises of Lifegate Academy in Abuja. Mr. Anywanwu Ebere is the head of schools; he was pivotal in getting the board of the academy to approve our use of their premises for our activities. We had guest lectures, from EducationUSA (from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria) and GIEVA (Global Integrated Education Volunteers Education), during which they discussed study-abroad opportunities mostly targeted to U.S. schools. We also wrote up some results of our research on early algorithms education in Nigeria. Check it out: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.20488 (to appear at SIGCSE 2024).

Planning is underway for the 2024 iteration. Owing to increased demand, we will host the program in Abuja and Lagos. Hopefully, more students from the southern parts of Nigeria can attend the program. There will be more instructors, more participants, and more food. Going forward, we would like to maintain the same rigor as we scale instruction to more participants.

Simons Foundation Junior Fellowship

I am in the middle of my 2nd year as a Junior Fellow in the Simons Society of Fellows. Fellows are expected to attend the weekly dinners. When I’m in town, I go to the dinners. It is always fun to hang out with fellow Junior Fellows and gain wisdom from the Senior Fellows. In March 2023, the Simons Society of Fellows held a retreat at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota, Florida. For me, the highlight of the trip was going birdwatching!

The Simons Junior Fellowship is a grant, in the applicant’s name, given to an institution in NYC. As such, I am hosted at Columbia University as a post-doc. This year, most of the papers I published centered around data privacy and graph generation algorithms. I have also begun exploring some topics in quantum information. It is nice to have a post-doc that affords me the opportunity to explore interests outside my dissertation topic.

This year, I also spent some time learning from scientists at the Flatiron Institute at the Simons Foundation. I have one ongoing project, with a friend at Flatiron, which I hope to continue in 2024.

2024

Next year, I will continue, at the same pace, with research and my non-profit work. Also, I plan to read more books that are not directly related to my research (e.g., just started reading “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”). Finally, I’m looking forward to the 2024 Simons Society of Fellows retreat in San Juan, Puerto Rico.