American born Nigerian Zuriel Oduwole, like Malala, champions girls’ education in Africa

15-year-old Zuriel Oduwole from Los Angeles has been granted audiences with no fewer than 24 presidents and prime ministers on her crusade to promote education for girls in Africa. Zuriel is following in the footsteps of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived being shot in the head to become the world’s most famous girls’ education campaigner.

Born in the US to parents of Nigerian and Mauritian origin, Zuriel talks to African leaders “about making policies so that girls are able to go to school until at least the age of 18 so they don’t get married when they are 12 or 13,” she told AFP in an interview.

Zuriel was in Paris at the weekend to help advocate for wealthy countries to boost their aid to developing countries to 0.7 percent of GDP. France’s aid budget is currently 0.38 percent of GDP. Addressing tens of thousands of youths at a solidarity concert in Paris on Sunday, the young American tried to sensitise them to the effects of poverty on the plight of girls across Africa.