Lakeside Study Centre is an oasis for young men in Lagos, Nigeria. This university residence offers professional and spiritual formation, as well as activities focused on developing leadership skills. ACI provided a $100,000 grant in 2025 to enhance the infrastructure of multiple residential centers across Nigeria, which included the installation of solar panels at Lakeside.
Before finding Lakeside Study Centre, Sixtus Onyedibe faced a daily odyssey.
“My challenge every day was to find a space to study with electricity and light. I also needed Wi-Fi access,” said Onyedibe, a 27-year-old geophysics student.
On an average day, Onyedibe would have to move to three different locations on the University of Lagos campus in order to charge his laptop and phone and then download materials for his course work.
Yet most of the time, when he arrived at the university library, the electricity would simply shut down.
Electricity – A Basic Tool for Success
Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa, with 237.5 million people. According to the World Bank, in 2023 only 61% of Nigeria’s people had access to electricity. For those who do have regular access, there are power outages every single day due to a crumbling electrical grid. In 2024, the national grid collapsed 12 times.
On the African continent, Nigeria is considered one of the worst countries in terms of its capacity to supply electricity – despite routine promises of solutions from politicians.
This situation is even more shocking when one considers that Nigeria has some of the largest deposits in the world of coal, oil and gas. Businesses and well-to-do households use diesel generators when the power shuts down, but this is expensive.
“In 2024, our electric supply was not good, to put it mildly,” said Francis Onwumere, the director of Lakeside, laughing. “We experienced 3 to 4 months of no electricity at all. We had to rely on generators. Today, for example, we had five hours of electricity.”
With the help of ACI, Lakeside was able to purchase solar panels in 2025. This has been a gamechanger.
“This has helped us a lot. It has reduced our electricity bills by 70%. We are so grateful for your support!” said Onwumere.
Helping Students Get Professional Formation
Lakeside Study Centre opened its doors in 2016 with the idea of helping young men with their professional studies as well as Christian formation.
“We are located in the area of Akoka, which is in Yaba, a suburb of Lagos. This area is in the middle of four universities with 75,000 students,” said Onwumere.
Besides operating as a university residence with bedrooms for 19 people, Lakeside also organizes activities to help young men learn the hard and soft skills needed for future jobs.
“We have over 300 students who come for our activities,” said Onwumere. “Around here, one of the main problems we see is acquiring skills for work and the capacity for leadership that is needed for career and life.”
Most participants are university students. A few are post-secondary school students who are studying for their university entrance exams.
Finding Hope at Lakeside
Damian Ubezuo, a 25-year-old medical student, has been living at Lakeside for one year. His dream is to become either an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon. Most students his age have lost two full years of studies due to Covid in 2020 and a national strike which closed all public Nigerian universities during 2022.
“Even though I have been living at Lakeside for one year, I have been coming here for activities since 2018,” said Ubezuo.
One of his favorite activities is the annual UNIV conference held at the Lagos Business School of Pan-Atlantic University every year. This conference, organized by Lakeside, is for university students to look at challenges and opportunities in Nigeria. The 2025 theme on “Citizens of our World” asked students to reflect on their core values in order to become good citizens of their school, village, city and world.
“Another activity is called ‘Mastering the University’,” said Ubezuo. “This annual event for first year students talks about how to use the university as a launching pad for different aspects of your life.”
During this year’s seminar, the theme was ‘Mastering the University for Wealth Creation’. Onwumere told the 85 participants that Lakeside was “a community of friends” that exists for people to support each other in academic, professional, and personal growth. He also told them that being at university is not an end in itself, but a place that rewards students who are deliberate in how they use their time, energy, and talents.
Other speakers included a panel of businessmen who shared their personal stories and the lessons they learned in starting businesses.
A Focus on Careers
Lakeside offers students the chance to attain a good foundation for their future careers. Through a range of alumni-led clubs, students gain both technical knowledge and real-world skills that prepare them for the workplace.
The Wealth Club introduces students to financial literacy, with a Lakeside alumnus and investment banker returning to lead these sessions and share practical insights. For those interested in technology, the Data Club provides training in data analytics for both beginner and intermediate learners, while the Tech Club offers hands-on experience in software development through cohort-based learning.
“We have Lakeside alumni and friends who come back to teach this course on Saturdays,” said Onwumere.
These activities are designed to go beyond theory with students working on long-term projects throughout the year, culminating in presentations where outstanding work is recognized. In this way, Lakeside helps bridge the gap between academic learning and the professional workplace.
The Benefits of Living at Lakeside
The young men who reside in Lakeside are grateful for the opportunity they have.
“I came from a federal school (public university) and the living arrangements there were sub-par,” said Ubezuo. “Living in Lakeside is a breath of fresh air. I get to meet people here who shape my life, and I can help them too. I really appreciate the constant interaction with others. Here at Lakeside, we get the whole package.”
Another benefit offered to Lakeside participants is that everyone gets a mentor. Alumni come back to mentor current university students.
“Many times, when a person comes to give classes to the students, they form connections with the students,” said Onwumere. “This often results in mentorship relationships.”
Lakeside also organizes a monthly series of talks whereby a local professional comes to tell the story of their career to university students. This helps the participants understand different career paths.
“Last month, we had a Lakeside alum who came back after getting a PH.D. in biomechanical engineering in the US, at the University of Cincinnati. This was very exciting for our students because many of them are studying the same thing. The speaker finished his degree and is now considering whether or not to return to Nigeria,” said Onwumere.
One of the major issues that Nigeria faces as a nation is a brain drain: the best and brightest students will travel abroad for graduate degrees. Many of them never return because they can have a better career outside the country – but the nation of Nigeria struggles to advance without them.
“Initiatives like ours give the students hope,” said Onwumere.
Medical Outreach
Another activity that Lakeside undertakes is a yearly medical outreach to a rural area outside of Lagos.
“Our students coordinate everything,” said Onwumere. “They convinced two medical doctors to come with us along with paramedics.”
The students were able to attend to110 patients.
“The medical outreach was really eye-opening for me. I helped organize it with someone else,” said Ubezuo. “We met with the villagers and set up a health clinic for them.”
Through a friend who has a pharmacist father, students were able to get donated supplies of medicines.
“There were 20 of us students. We could see that the villagers never had access to basic health care. We were able to help them. They were so happy! One man tried to give us the equivalent of 10 cents as a way to pay us (which we refused). He told us that in the past, he had to travel to another village to get health care – which for me was so sad to hear,” said Ubezuo.
What he saw that day deeply affected him.
“I saw that there are places in my own country where there are people in need. The students in my group all had the same feeling. All of us were grateful that we had not missed this opportunity to do outreach. It really taught us something about humanity,” he said.
The Spiritual Side of Lakeside
Because Lakeside Study Centre is a Catholic-inspired project, students can take theology classes if they want.
“Every year, we have a number of students who get baptized – either because their parents never got around to it, or because they learned about Christianity as university students. We have 7 in a class right now,” said Onwumere.
There are spiritual retreats for students every quarter.
“I grew up Catholic and have always been intrigued by the Faith. The Meditations and discussions on different topics about faith have really helped me deepen my knowledge and conviction” said Ubezuo.
For Onyedibe, this experience has been something new.
“At Lakeside, you get the feeling like we are all learning together and that I can ask anything in the classes,” said Onyedibe. “This is something I have really enjoyed, the fact that everyone is young.”
For the students at Lakeside, becoming a better student and professional goes hand in hand with personal and spiritual growth.
“Lakeside has made things easier for me. My academic standing has improved, and it has brought me to think more deeply about my faith,” said Onyedibe.
Given the tremendous challenges in Nigeria, Lakeside students are grateful for this place they have come to regard as their second home.
How to contribute:
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By Check payable to “ACI, Inc.”, memo: “ECS (Lakeside)”, and mailed to:
Association for Cultural Interchange, Inc.
420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300
New York, NY 10170
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Or Email us at [email protected] for instructions about sending a wire transfer or other forms of payment.