Why Nafisa Abdullah Aminu's Win Deserves Nigeria's Highest Honour

In a land where the trending topic of conversation is determined by social media algorithms, some stories that ought to make a nation take notice are almost murmurs. An example of this is Nafisa Abdullah Aminu, a 17-year-old Nigerian girl from Yobe state who was, in August 2025, the global best English user among more than 20,000 contestants at the TeenEagle Global finals in London from 69 countries, including lots of native English-speaking countries.

This wasn’t a regional quiz. It was an arduous multistage international competition involving critical thinking, grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension all at once. Nafisa’s success also positioned Nigeria atop the world as a leader in academic greatness. But the response nationally was a little more… silent.

There was no procession. No viral hashtag on Instagram and X. No TikTok challenge in her honor. Conversely, a political gaffe or a celebrity wardrobe mishap can hold the Nigerian media cycle for upwards of a week. The disconnect is glaring: a cerebral triumph that might have unified the country in pride and policy talks regarding education barely made it to the forefront of news in as it was hardly competing with either entertainment gossip or political chatter.

Nafisa’s case is not exceptional in this silence. It’s indicative of a larger trend within society that sporting and entertainment genius eclipses scholastic and intellectual genius, regardless of how novel. This is the same Nigeria that can rally corporate sponsorship, government incentives and national awards around football success, but stifles recognition of its brightest academic prodigy.

The question almost answers itself: What does it say when the world celebrates our intellect more than we?

 

1. Nigeria's Quiet Triumph: The Case of Nafisa Abdullah Aminu

Who is she and what did she do? In August 2025, 17-year-old Nafisa Abdullah Aminu from Yobe State was crowned the best in the world in English language skills at the 2025 TeenEagle Global Finals held in London, UK. She placed higher than over 20,000 participants from 69 countries, including native English-speaking countries.

National Response and Recognition:

The Federal Ministry of Education and key officials celebrated her victory, praising the Renewed Hope Agenda for Education as instrumental in Nigeria’s growing capacity to cultivate globally competitive talent.

Former Minister, Isa Ali Pantami, asked that the government should also come in to reward Nafisa with similar prizes awarded to heroes in sports like Super Falcons & D’Tigress, $100,000, 3-bedroom flats, and Officer of the Order of the Niger OON. He also asked that her English teacher be appreciated.

Wider commentary: A Nigerian Daily newspaper, as well as various educational advocates, argued that sporting prowess is more commonly a cause of celebration amongst Nigerians than intellectual achievement, and Nafisa’s accomplishment should redirect the lens of Nigeria’s national pride towards intellectual prowess.

 

2. Intellectual Events: Board Games and Beyond

The Oswee Board Game Tournament: According to the viral commentary that inspired this piece, the Oswee board game tournament was founded in 2017 to blend chess, Scrabble, and IOL-style logic competitions. For three consecutive years, the event awarded laptops, cash prizes, and school supplies to make intellectual engagement attractive to young Nigerians.

Though public archives of the Oswee tournament are limited, the conceptualization of this game mirrors a long history of competitive mental games in Nigeria:

- Nigeria is a Scrabble power, as it won the World English Scrabble Players Association Champion in 2015 and 2017.

- Interest in chess in schools has been on the rise, and there have been inter-state tournaments organized by the Nigerian Chess Federation.

- Such brain-centric events are held in Lagos and Abuja too, but tend not to get mass media attention the way concerts or football do.

 

3. Why Intellectual Achievements Don’t Trend

- Media & Social Exposure: Sporting feats receive disproportionate media coverage, overshadowing academic victories. Nafisa’s win got ministerial praise but no viral wave.

- Corporate Sponsorship & ROI: Corporate brands demand tangible ROI for academic sponsorships, while investing heavily in entertainment without the same scrutiny.

- Cultural Rewards Imbalance: Sports stars often receive cash, houses, and national honours; academic winners rarely get the same treatment.

- Community Engagement & Amplification: Social media feeds on what people share. As long as audiences engage more with entertainment gossip, algorithms will prioritize it over intellectual content.

 

4. Recommendations for Change

- Institutional Recognition: Formalise rewards for intellectual achievements: scholarships, national honours, and financial incentives.

- Corporate & Media Partnerships: Position intellectual events as high-visibility CSR opportunities for brands.

- Grassroots Incentives: Expand competitions like Oswee nationwide with strong prizes and publicity.

- Festival Platforms: Use cultural events like the Lagos Book & Art Festival and Aké Arts Festival to showcase young achievers.

- Social Campaigns: Launch hashtags and digital movements to promote academic excellence.

 

Final Thoughts – A Wake-Up Call for Nigeria’s Value System

Nafisa Abdullah Aminu’s victory should be more than a news headline; it should be a cultural diagnostic held up to the Nigerian face. Not only did her scores surpass those of her classmates or other schools or even her entire state, but she ranks higher than “20,000 students in 69 countries, many in native English-speaking countries”. In other countries, this is the type of accomplishment that would be front-page news with an ensuing campaign by the public, state scholarships, media tours and possibly even biopics. While in Nigeria, it hardly trended on the mainstream for a day.

This silence reveals a lot more about us than it does about her. It also reflects a national craving for something other than entertainment gossip, political melodrama and social media spectacle. We mobilize by the thousands for soccer wins, whoop and cheer when a celebrity gets engaged and break down the results of a hot new reality show, but we can barely scrap together a tenth of that for applause of intellectual advances. It’s an imbalance that is not without consequence because it defines the desires and aspirations of millions of Nigerian youth watching from the periphery.

Children take in “what we celebrate as a society”. The glitzy corporate sponsorships and the national awards that go to the entertainers and the sports stars send a loud and clear implicit message – intellectuals, brains aren’t enough; you need to entertain to count. It is a narrative that stifles ambition and fosters brain drain as the best of Nigeria leave the country to work where their talents are needed.

But Nafisa’s success also exposes a counter-truth – the talent is here. When provided with the opportunity and the training, Nigerian students have proven they can compete and win on the world stage, from Yobe State universities to London’s halls of competition. Her “victory,” like that of Nigeria’s success in Scrabble and chess in previous years, shows how, with the proper infrastructure, intellectual achievement can be as celebrated as and aspired to as sports or entertainment.

 

Our challenge is two-fold:

- Institutional Shift: Government, media, and corporations must build frameworks that systematically recognise and reward intellectual excellence. Imagine a “National Hall of Academic Fame” or annual televised awards celebrating top-performing students, innovators, and researchers.

- Cultural Shift: The everyday Nigerian must strive to tell more stories like Nafisa’s. If we can make songs go viral, we can make scholarship recipients go viral, too. Each RT, share and post is important – social media algorithms take note of the things that we engage with collectively.

We do not want in any way to denigrate entertainment or sports, both are real and important to culture. But balance is long overdue. We require a society in which the achievement of a teenager winning a worldly academic title is as newsworthy and represents the equivalent cover and award of a group of people raising a continental trophy.

Nafisa’s victory must not be a momentary flash that will dissipate in days. And it should be the beginning of a movement to make intelligence aspirational, to make educational achievement a point of pride for the nation that inspires millions of children to think, I want to be like her.

Her story is evidence: Nigerian youth can compete with the best in the world. The question then becomes- will Nigeria stand with them?