Back in Nigeria, Idowu Babalola’s chances of getting into university were slim. His eyes shine as he talks about being accepted to Benin’s private West African Union University in a DW video interview.

The university, located in the capital of Cotonou, wants to produce the continent’s leaders of tomorrow. It has about 300 students enrolled from Benin, Nigeria and Togo who are hoping to become young African leaders.

This will be home for Babalola for the next few years.

“When we got here we were astonished. We weren’t expecting what we saw,” he told DW.

For economics lecturer Emily Ikhide, today’s class is about teaching the fundamentals and making the students believe in themselves, getting them to understand they could be leaders. “Once that is passed on to them it is easier,” she said.

Babalola is buying it.

“I can change the economy of Nigeria,” he told DW. “I can do it.”

Adeyemi Bishop, president of the university, said he wants to make access to education as open as possible, providing a “better reputation, better teaching, better service delivery.”

Daouda Housna, 17, is one of 70 students signed up to study medicine.

“My aim is to progress and to see which steps we have to take in order to improve the health system and raise the standard of living,” she said.

Housna’s father is a doctor and is paying for her studies.

One in three students at the university gets a scholarship. The rest pay tuition of about a 1000 euros (about $1,100) per semester.