TIME 100: Four Influential Nigerians Who Made the List

TIME has released its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world for the year 2020 and like everywhere you go, there are Nigerians there. Appearing on the list is an honour, as the honorees are recognized for their contribution to the world.

“While you will certainly find people who wield traditional power on this year’s list—heads of state, CEOs, major entertainers—it also includes many extraordinary, lesser-known individuals who seized the moment to save lives, build a movement, lift the spirit, repair the world”, TIME said on how it chose individuals that made this year’s list.

Check out this short list of Nigerians that made the TIME 100 Most Influential People list…

1. Tony Elumelu

Tony Elumelu is an economist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

For the TIME 100 list, Elumelu’s entry was written by Aliko Dangote, a businessman and Africa’s richest person; who referred to Elumelu as “one of the most innovative and ambitious business leaders of his generation.”

Following his retirement from United Bank for Africa in July 2010, Elumelu founded The Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropic organisation that awards grants and intensive support to young entrepreneurs per year across 54 countries in Africa.

Read the full entry here.

2. Tomi Adeyemi

Bestselling Nigerian-American novelist and creative writing coach. She is most popular for her #1 NY Times bestselling book; Children of Blood and Bone.

The novel won the 2018 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, the 2019 Waterstones Book Prize, and the 2019 Hugo Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book. In 2019, Adeyemi made the Forbe’s 30 Under 30 list.

For the TIME100 list, British-Nigerian actor/producer John Boyega wrote Adeyemi’s entry. “Tomi is the god of ideas,” Boyega wrote.

“She’s inspiring a lot of young people to write. She creates the very world that we as actors get to play in. And the big-screen adaptation will hire a lot of people and bring more representation to our industry—all that comes directly from Tomi’s imagination. She is going to be very powerful when it comes to bringing stories and ideas to the forefront.”

Read the full entry here.

3. Tunji Funsho

The next Nigerian on the TIME 100 list is Tunji Funsho, cardiologist and the chair of Rotary International’s polio­ eradication program in Nigeria. Funsho received the honour of appearing in the Titans category.

For the TIME 100 list, Funsho’s entry was written by Jeffrey Kluger, an editor at TIME.

Funsho and Rotary played a critical role in getting millions of doses of the polio vaccine to children in cities and villages around the nation. On 25 August, marking four years without a case of wild polio, Nigeria was certified wild polio-free.

“It’s not often an entire continent eradicates a disease, but on Aug. 25, 2020, that happened when Nigeria became officially polio-free, clearing the virus from its last redoubt in all of Africa. The person who did more than any other to drive polio to continent-wide extinction was Dr. Tunji Funsho”, Kluger wrote.

Read the full entry here.

4. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Antetokounmpo, whose surname is a Greek script rendition for “Adetokunbo” was in Greece to Nigerian parents in 1994. Antetokounmpo is a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and earned the NBA Defensive Player of the Year title in 2020.

For the TIME 100 list, NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar penned Antetokounmpo’s entry.

“Every generation finds an athlete who embodies the qualities we all wish we had: dedication, focus, exceptional athleticism and grace under pressure… Giannis Antetokounmpo, who just won a second straight NBA MVP award, has all that and more”, Abdul-Jabbar wrote.

Antetokounmpo is one of the best all-around players in the NBA, he is highly athletic and versatile. Read the full entry here.