24-year-old Nigerian Damilola Arowolaju just bagged Ph.D. in Law from The George Washington University

A 24-year-old Nigerian Damilola Arowolaju has just bagged a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Law from The George Washington University Law School, Washington DC.

The honor was conferred on Arowolaju who hails from Ekiti State in Nigeria during the university’s virtual graduation ceremonies held last month.

Born in Nigeria, Arowolaju immigrated to America as a young child with his parents. Confronted with racisms and many other challenges facing the entire global black community, growing up the son of a former special advisor to Nigerian Governor Segun Oni, Dr. Bayo Arowolaju, he vowed to fight for “a brighter future for others.”

In his undergrad days at Northwestern University, Arowolaju studied Social Policy while leading a number of groups and initiatives focused on providing social, academic, and emotional support for students of color, according to his website. 

“He also walked on to the NU football team and had the honor of delivering the student convocation speech to his graduating class of the School of Education and Social Policy,” the site stated.

Committed to seeing equality in every facet of the American society, Arowolaju was part of a special task force that presented a report to Northwestern’s leadership on improving the Black student experience. He also extensively investigated mass incarceration and social inequality in American society.

“In looking ahead to his legal career, Damilola’s interests include white-collar investigations. It’s an interest that stems from his father, a former Director of Procurement for their Nigerian state government, who often dealt with corruption,” a profile of him stated.

Passionate about the criminal justice reform, the Nigerian is said to have aspirations of entering government service to implement policies that “dismantle social inequality.” 

A William T. Coleman Jr. Fellow, Arowolaju worked as a summer associate in the New York and D.C. offices of O’Melveny & Myers. He is said to also intern for the Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. 

Arowolaju is also a Co-Academic Chair for the GW Black Law Students Association and a member of the Public Contract Law Journal.