" "Every time I am told that a young person in my local community dropped out of school citing the cliche 'school na scam' or any time I see a female student going through school with the notion that formal education is useful only as a means to one end: landing a wealthy husband; I feel a visceral response of sadness at what could be, at the waste of human potential, at the almost predictable eventual descent into crime and internet fraud in the case of some of the boys. I am very passionate about addressing, even if in small ways, this problem which I recognize as stemming from an ongoing epidemic of crass materialism in my native Igbo tribe and beyond. But I also realize that one is too small a number to achieve greatness. In light of this, I am excited to have become a Millennium Fellow as I am certain that the community and skills which the Millennium Fellowship will afford me will be invaluable in bolstering my social impact on my local community, making it more tangible and aligned with the UNAI principles and the SDGs." "