Longford’s Eric Ehigie joins Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government

Eric Ehigie, from Longford town, is one of over 150 students from over 50 different countries who recently joined the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

The Blavatnik School’s curriculum examines some of the most urgent questions facing public sector leaders in every corner of the globe. The world-class faculty teaches how good policies can help governments grapple with these challenges. The School is committed to making sure that financial circumstances shouldn’t stop anyone from joining the course.

Last year, full scholarships were awarded to 79% of the students on the Masters of Public Policy course, with a total of almost 90% receiving some funding to support their participation.

Eric, a recent graduate of law from the University of Galway, said, "All my life, despite the obstacles I've encountered along the way, I have always been encouraged to seek something better for myself, even if my immediate environment suggested otherwise.

“My being at Oxford, to learn about how I can most effectively bring about a positive change for my local community is a dream come true and is a product of attempts, though painstaking at times, to envision a reality where I stretch my potential to its brink.”

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Eric, who has served on the Board of Directors for the NGO Women for Election and as the Director of Advocacy for the community organisation, Black and Irish, thanked his mother for ‘her undying support and all the sacrifices she has made, against the odds’, to ensure he had what she could not.

Eric continued, “I must thank Councillor Uruemu Adejinmi for always believing in my capacity as a changemaking agent and for writing a reference for my university application. I would also like to thank those in my local community, be it football coaches I have had, friends from Longford's diverse community, and youth social workers I have interacted with throughout my development as a young person in the town. They have all played an immeasurable role in making my presence at the Blavatnik School of Government possible. I would like to also thank the educational support provided to me by my secondary schools, Moyne CS and St Mel’s, and particularly thank everyone at my primary school, St. Michael's BNS, especially the late Mairtin O'Muiri, for never allowing me to settle for anything less than the best I can produce.”

Eric, who writes regularly on pressing sociopolitical issues for his blog and has contributed to both legal and socially oriented outlets and written for national newspaper outlets, says we live in challenging times as a community.

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“There is more division than I can remember, on critical questions at the heart of our sustainable development, as a local community, and a country. It is my sincere hope that, with an open mind to what fate has in store, I can equip myself with tools that will enable me to make some positive contributions to our efforts at addressing these questions.”

Eric continued, “If there is a last word I can give, it is this: how I grew up, in a single mother-household, with few positive male role models, without a sound socioeconomic standing in society, whilst a young male, is a formula for a troubled destiny, according to the evidence. I recall times at which a younger Eric needed his community to step in and guide him when he may have felt lost or questioned his direction. I was lucky to have a tiger mum and positive influences to give me permission to fully express the light within me against a negative societal backdrop.

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“There are youth, many youth, in our town, who are in a similar, if not a worse predicament. If this article can encourage anything, I hope it helps to shatter the puritan attitude that our misguided youth are often met with when yearning for positive engagement, and I hope it can lead to an active, communal approach to uplifting our youth - especially those on the periphery who need it the most. Our young people become who we tell them they are; if the story that we cultivate for our youth switches from one of disdain to a story of unwavering belief - who knows? One might end up studying at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford University, with the intention of leaving his country better than he found it!"

Ngaire Woods, founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, said: “I’m so proud of these students. They come from all over the world but they all have one thing in common: a desire to give back to the communities they came from. I can’t wait to see what they go on to accomplish next.”