NIDCOM: 22-year-old Nigerian nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) says Zuriel Oduwole, a 22-year-old Nigerian, has been nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

In a statement issued on Monday, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, NIDCOM’s spokesperson, said three personalities nominated Oduwole, an education advocate, including a professor of clinical education engineering on behalf of the University of Southern California, an emeritus professor of social science for the University of Missouri, and a Nigerian senator.

Odowole is said to have played an active role in global diplomacy, shaping conversations on education and peace, while striving to create opportunities for marginalised communities and drive meaningful change.

Born in Los Angeles to Nigerian grandparents, Oduwole has met with 36 world leaders, including presidents and prime ministers, to discuss policy and development issues.

At the age of 13, Oduwole mediated a territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela, meeting with then-President David Granger at the United Nations, and stressed the importance of peaceful dialogue.

In 2020, she advised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on global peace strategies amid the Arab blockade of Qatar, which was peacefully resolved in 2021.

In 2017, at just 14, she met with John Kerry, then-US secretary of state, to push for reward-based education programmes in developing nations.

In 2022, Oduwole received the 8th UN secretary-general leadership award in New York, in recognition of her decade-long mediation efforts and advocacy for gender parity.

Balogun said Abike Dabiri-Erewa, NIDCOM chairperson, congratulated Oduwole for the nomination.

Dabiri-Erewa said the nomination was not a surprise due to the tireless work of Oduwole in advocating for girls’ education over the last 12 years across Africa and the Caribbean and for her peace mediating work between nations in South America and the Middle East.

Dabiri-Erewa urged youths to emulate the impactful spirit of Oduwole and shun any acts capable of denigrating the image of Nigeria.

“It is the culmination of a dedication to making a measurable difference in the world that has seen her receive, among others, a Forbes Leadership Award, the CARE Global Impact Award, and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Award,” the statement reads.

“Her recognition and nomination for arguably the most prestigious award known to man is another evidence of that resilient and hardworking Nigerian spirit, warmly coded in Nigerians DNA, and simply waiting for the slightest opportunity to not just express the innate abilities, but to lead and dominate wherever Nigerians find themselves across the globe.”

Michael Oduwole, her grandfather, left Nigeria in 1954 for Scotland to train as a medical doctor, where her father, Ademola Oduwole, was born.

Ademola then emigrated to Los Angeles in 1991, where Zuriel was born in 2002.