Meet Sokoto’s first female Professor of Gynaecology

I attended the primary school at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, GGSS, Kawo, Kaduna State and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. After that, I went to the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, where I did my residency programme and took up employment there until 2009 when I went on sabbatical initially, then Leave without pay […]

I attended the primary school at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, GGSS, Kawo, Kaduna State and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. After that, I went to the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, where I did my residency programme and took up employment there until 2009 when I went on sabbatical initially, then Leave without pay to Abuja to accompany my husband. I am the second of eight children, I have one older sister, then I have two younger brothers and the rest are all girls. I have three children, two boys and a girl.

Why medicine

The real reason why I went for medicine was because my father was a doctor and it was expected of me. My immediate younger brother is a doctor in the United States of America and a younger sister is also a doctor with the NNPC in Kaduna.

Growing up

I grew up in ABU so it was a very peaceful time, I always tell my children about it. One could wander all over the university, go to the dam, go and pluck mangoes in other people’s houses and it was so peaceful then and our primary school was very good and my father places a lot of emphasis on education. He tried his best not to spoil us, the driver would drop us at school, but we walked back home.

Aspiration as a child

Well, when your father is a doctor and your mother is a nurse, whether they realize it or not you are brainwashed from your youth, you don’t really think of a career option. For a brief period, I wanted to do Agriculture, but when I was filling my form for the university, it was my father who was going to submit it, so I dared not even think about putting anything except medicine.

Role model

My father was my role model, because he was such a gentle man. He was very quiet and principled. If you can convince him of something important, he would do it for you.

Secret of success

First of all I give God the glory for all my success, because without the help of God, the enablement of God, there is nothing one can achieve in life. Then I also attribute it to my parents, because certain things are expected of us. The minimum any member of my family has is a first degree. I don’t think my parents went to anybody’s convocation, it was something you were expected to do, it was a normal thing for us. Then when it comes to academic career, rising through the ranks, I have to appreciate my husband who is very encouraging despite whatever stress there may be on the family in terms of being called out in the night, in term of ignoring the family to write papers or something, my husband was very, very encouraging. Then my heads of department when I was in Sokoto, they were also valuable. They all helped to get me where I am today.

Memorable experiences

When I first got to Sokoto, that is the teaching hospital, it has just been newly established as a teaching hospital. So, in many ways, I was a pioneer and so I came across a lot of stumbling blocks, because people I guessed didn’t really know how to handle somebody who was in training. They were used to a ‘general hospital way’ of running things and so the residency training programme was a bit alien to them. Then of course there were not many of our colleagues at that time who had been through a formal West Africa or Nigerian residency training programme, so I had a problem of mentorship in the specific field that I was looking, but I thank God that he brought Professor Ekele to Sokoto, someone who has been through the same programme, so he was able to guide and mentor me.

Challenges as a woman

I won’t say that there was any specific challenge as a woman. Sokoto, I think because of the Islamic background, they were happy to have a woman in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. For things like accommodation, I remember a time when I was staying in a Guest House and I made a request for a house to be allocated to me as I was the only lady and everybody else in the Guest House was male and they took that very seriously. So I don’t think that being a female was any negative thing.

Ever since I did Obstetrics and Gynaecology in my medical school, I knew that this was a field that I would want to do. I loved it, I enjoyed it, I wanted to do it. So, once I had started it was like this was something that you have to complete. When I finished the residency, I became a consultant. I joined the university, and then it was like I must get to the top. Even my late father was also of the opinion that I should try to get to the top of the profession which is to be a professor. It is sad that he is not alive to see that it has actually happened.

First female professor from UDUS Sokoto

I feel very happy about it, I feel that all the sacrifices, all the sleepless nights, everything is final; it was worth while because I have reached the goal that I wanted to reach.

Advice to fellow women

They should be very prayerful, that is the most important thing, pray that God would give you an understanding husband. If your husband is understanding, then almost everything is achievable. Then they have to learn to balance the home and the job, because there is no point of reaching the apex of your career at the expense of your family; so one has to learn to balance the two.

Influence on children

Well I must confess, my first child insisted that he studied medicine. I have an open mind, but unfortunately I think these things are in the genes too. My second son one day went to a Biology class and he came and said ‘oh mommy, I saw a cell under the microscope’, he was so excited but I think that he is going in some way or the other medical line.

Women in medical field.

I think before me, a lot of woman had a lot of problems in the field, because the kind of schedule in the residency training programme, a few married women were able to survive it. Many would start, but drop off, because the family pressures were quite heavy, but I noticed now that many women are coming up to do Obstetrics and Gynaecology and like in Sokoto, the way the department is structured encourages women. They have a place where they can bring their babies, if they are On Call at night or a nanny or somebody to take care of the baby. The place is woman-friendly. I also noticed that even in the south of Nigeria where it was quite difficult for women before, many are coming out to do Obstetrics and Gynaecology and it is very encouraging, because many women clients too prefer to see female doctors.

Health sector

The love for money has unfortunately invaded the health sector and that probably explains why we are having problems today. Staffs are just not as dedicated as they used to be, but whether we like it or not, health is still a humanitarian profession. If somebody wants to make money, they should go to banking and other things. I am not saying doctors and nurses shouldn’t be well paid, but we should remember health is a humanitarian thing.

Medical students training

There are just not enough patients in our teaching hospitals to train doctors as they should be trained. When I was a medical student, every student had to take 20 deliveries, by the time they divide us into groups when we are going for our clinical postings, into the sub groups, there two students to a consultant, but now sometimes when the consultants are doing ward round, you have 20 students with you. How can they hope to learn? How many deliveries do we have in so many hospitals? There is no way the students can be exposed to those 20 deliveries. So we have situations where the students we are graduating do not have the skills required to work in a developing country such as Nigeria. We really have to have a rethink about the user fees that we have imposed on our tertiary health institutions.

Maternal mortality in Nigeria

Government is making a lot of efforts; people now realize that maternal mortality is a problem. In the 80s when people like us used to be interested in maternal mortality, people didn’t really perceive it as a problem. Like I always say, I was in Sokoto for over 20 years, and nobody ever invited me to give a talk on maternal mortality. Even women themselves just take it as a fatalistic thing. If you die, you die, if you live you live, but I am glad that the whole world and Nigeria specifically now know this is a problem that we have to do something about and things are being done about it.