Becoming a doctor in Nigeria is a scam.
No, seriously. It is a huge scam.
Conventional doctoring in Nigeria, at least as it is currently structured, is miserable. Sometimes I walk through teaching hospitals and look at the conditions under which some doctors live and work, and I ask myself: is this really the dream?
You spend over half a decade studying one of the hardest courses in the country. You write professional examinations. You lose sleep. You sacrifice your youth. Then you graduate into a system that often does not reward the effort you put in.
I have seen doctors living in hostels that are not fit for human dignity. Somehow, this has become normalized. Somehow, people are expected to look at this life and aspire to it.
You grow up wanting to become "Chief this" or "Professor that." Then you look closely at the lifestyle and ask yourself a dangerous question:
Is this actually success, or have we merely decorated suffering?
This is where I depart from conventional thinking.
If I become a doctor and I intend toโI do not intend to be a conventional doctor.
I refuse to accept a system where years of training, expertise, and sacrifice are rewarded with dependence on salaries that people have to beg to be paid.
I simply cannot.
Perhaps some people can.
I cannot.
One thing I have never understood is why self-promotion is frowned upon among doctors. Why? In a system that does not adequately reward the people who sustain it, why should those same people not build personal brands, networks, businesses, and professional identities outside the hospital walls?
Why should they not?
I intend to promote myself.
I intend to build networks.
I intend to create economic relationships with people outside the hospital.
I intend to create value outside the four walls of medicine.
I do not want to be in a position where my entire livelihood depends on one salary from one institution.
That model does not appeal to me.
Every day, doctors interact with people who need their knowledge, expertise, and services. It seems strange to me that many professionals are trained extensively in medicine but very little in wealth creation, branding, entrepreneurship, or economic independence.
To me, wisdom is not only knowing medicine.
Wisdom is also understanding systems.
And one thing I have learned very early is this: if a system does not reward you adequately, then you must build structures around yourself that do.
This is not greed.
This is survival.
Perhaps other people see medicine differently.
Perhaps they are satisfied with the traditional path.
That is their choice.
But for me, medicine will be a profession, not a prison.
I want to be an excellent doctor.
I also want to be free.
B.A. French (First Class Honours) โ Obafemi Awolowo University
Best Female Graduating Student, Faculty of Arts (OAU)
M.A. French (Distinction) โ University of Ibadan
Best Graduating Student, Department of European Studies
Ph.D. French Literature โ Purdue University, USA
Student of the Year
DALF C2 (French Language Proficiency)
Chegg Global Student Prize 2024 Top 50 Finalist (Selected from over 11,000 nominations across 176 countries)
I am honored to be nominated by JCI Nigeria as one of the Top 30 Outstanding Young Persons in the category of Academic Accomplishments and Leadership.
I would greatly appreciate your vote and support:
https://t.co/aiGfYjp45z
Thank you. ๐๐ฝ
โItโs all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.โ
โ Martin Luther King Jr.