My name is Faruk, from Nigeria. I’m 28. I acquired my bachelor’s degree in economics at Ahmadu Bello University, the most prestigious university in Nigeria. The experience was great. I found my passion in economics in my early high school period, from the first time I was able to fathom what Lionel Robbins meant by: “economics is a science that studies human behavior as relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses”. This triggered my interest, and I was fortunate to have great teachers that have so much impact in the understanding process. I’ve been stuck with economics ever since and the journey so far in this field has been quite adventurous.

I made the decision to study development economics and international corporation at the masters level because of my late father. His vision and beliefs reflects his passion in the development of Africa. Fortunately, I was privileged to garner enough motivation from his wisdom before he passed. I stand to believe that Africa can be a lot better than it is right now, and it is blessed with enormous resources to do that, both human and natural resources. Unfortunately it is faced with many hindrances - too many to count, and all I desire to do is to make a contribution, big or small, in the the process of curtailing and, if possible, eradicating these hindrances which I believe would be possible with an intricate knowledge of Development Economics. I’m grateful to the MESCI program for providing that opportunity.