Nigerian students break records at Howard University - 43 of the 96 Doctor of Pharmacy candidates were Nigerians

On Saturday, at the Howard University in Washington D.C, Nigerians made history. Of the 96 graduating Doctor of Pharmacy candidates, 43 of them were Nigerians and of the 27 awards given, 16 went to Nigerians.

Also, more than 400 students received professional degrees in law, medicine, pharmacy and dentistry.

U.S. President Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at the event.

It did not make headlines. For major news network, it also did not get any mention. Even when major newspapers reported the event, what caught their attention was on what President Barack Obama said when he delivered the commencement lecture. But there was a major highlight that was ignored. A report said of the 96 graduating Doctor of Pharmacy candidates, 43 of them were Nigerians and of the 27 awards given, 16 went to Nigerians.

Howard University also awarded a Doctor of Humanities degree to actress and activist Cicely Tyson, a Doctor of Laws to Ambassador Horace G. Dawson, a pioneering member of the U.S. Foreign Service and founding director of the Howard’s Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, and a Doctor of Science to Dr. L.D. Britt, chairman of the Department of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

It awarded more than 1,300 bachelor’s degrees, more than 300 master’s degrees, and over 100 Ph.Ds. The top five areas of concentration were psychology, history, political science, social work and mathematics. Additionally, more than 400 students received professional degrees in law, medicine, pharmacy and dentistry.

Howard University has the only dental and pharmacy colleges in the District of Columbia. The graduates represented 46 states and 35 countries. The youngest graduate at the ceremony was 20-years-old and the oldest was 74.

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, two Truman Scholars, a Marshall Scholar, 30 Fulbright Scholars and 11 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States.

Speaking at the event, Obama emphasized that his election has not created a “post-racial society” despite improved race relations.

Stressing the need to keep pushing for change, he gave the students at the historically black university impassioned advice on how to “shape our collective future.”

Chief among that advice: Vote, “not just some of the time but all of the time.” He added: “When we don’t vote we give away our power.”

He described the university as a “centerpiece of African-American intellectual life, and a central part of our larger American story.”