Disclaimer: This is not my story; it’s my brother’s, but telling it is the patriotic thing to do.
Last year, my brother relocated to the United Kingdom as part of a bigger plan to have his residency training in the West. Unlike some medical doctors who leave the country in search of greener pastures, my brother didn’t leave for want of lush pastures; he left because he loves Nigeria and wants to be an agent of change.
Hear me out…
My brother spent most of his seven years in the university in-between class and his old professor/guardian’s office. The man had not used the office in a while and it was a perfect place to study, take a nap, and study again, without the distractions that are sometimes characteristic of public libraries. His social life was almost non-existent, not because he didn’t want to fail, but because he loved medicine and wanted to know everything he could know. He wanted to glean from everyone who knew better. He wanted to help rebuild the country’s failing health system. He wanted to do it by becoming a doctor; one of the best. So, he put his all into it.
After a few years in medical school, he soon realised that the pictures of change in his head were nothing but a pipe dream. But he wouldn’t give up, so he kept giving his best until he graduated. His mandatory one-year housemanship which he was very lucky to get shortly after graduation, opened his eyes to the decay of medical residency training in Nigeria and he knew he wouldn’t be able to be the change he wants to be if he joined the decay.
In a 2019 paper published in the World Journal of Innovative Research by Dr. Amaechi Nwachukwu, he concluded that even though residency training started more than 5 decades ago, “the quality of training is not yet adequate as perceived by the trainees themselves”. He stressed the need to improve equipment procurement, trainer employment and quality of supervision of residents.
These are the same reasons my brother decided his residency training had to be away from here if he would be able to make a difference. He left because he was thinking about Nigeria’s future. He left because he wants to make a difference. He left because he loves Nigeria. He left because he’s a patriot.
So, my brother will undergo his residency training abroad, work at some of the best hospitals in the world and come back someday to contribute to the depth of medical knowledge in Nigeria. That’s selfless!
While he’s at it, he will be paying some black tax, contributing to Nigeria’s economy. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), said earlier this year that remittances from citizens abroad are now an economic factor for development. She called it ‘Diaspora Direct Investment (DDI)’. According to her, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2021 was $4.8 billion while DDI was $20 billion, accounting for about 6.1 per cent of Nigeria’s annual gross domestic product. This is part of the contribution my brother will be making to his beloved country until the day he returns to help improve medical training and our healthcare system.
My brother is a patriot!
