In 2014, then Governor Shettima took it upon himself to sponsor female citizens of the state to study Medicine at the El-Razi Medical University, Khartoum in Sudan and other citadels of great learning. During the launch of the Female Medical Intervention Programme of his administration and presentation of scholarship letters at the Government House Maiduguri, Shettima had said the female students were drawn from the 27 local government areas of the state.
“Having 30 female medical doctors which the state desperately needs is the greatest legacy the government can give the state, in view of the fact that women have peculiar health challenges arising from maternity, menstrual and other issues that women would be in the best position to handle as a result of the African culture and religion,” Shettima had said, noting that 30 female candidates would be sent every year for training as medical doctors and that no amount of money spent on their training would be a waste.
Not satisfied, Shettima had directed the then commissioner for Higher Education, Mr Bello Ayuba, to add three more Christian female candidates and two female students from the Northern part of the state to the 30 scheduled for the training, imploring the candidates to be good ambassadors of the state and the country.
True to his words, as good ambassadors they were urged to become, the medical doctors were back on Thursday with an unquenchable desire to thank and appreciate Kashim Shettima for his capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.
Recounting their experience and how they were recruited, one of the 60 girls picked from across Borno State and sponsored by Shettima to study Medicine abroad, Dr. Aisha Kaumi, told journalists immediately after the Sallah homage to the Vice President that they have since graduated, with 50 of them working as medical doctors in the state.
She said, “My name is Dr. Aisha Kaumi, one of the medical doctors sponsored by Vice President Kashim Shettima while he was governor of Borno State. So, we came here today to pay a visit to thank him for all he has done for us and to congratulate him on his well-deserved position as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Alhamdulillah, we met him and everything went well, and he (the VP) assured us that in case we want to specialize he was 100 percent ready to assist us.
“We were 60 then, 30 of us from El-Razi Medical University, Khartoum in Sudan, and the other 30 who graduated from the National University of Sudan. Alhamdulillah, all of us graduated and currently, about 50 of us are working with the state government here in Borno State. The remaining ten are yet to pass their medical exams but, Insha Allah, we are hoping that they will catch up with us.”
On the motivation behind studying Medicine and the impact on them and the state, Dr. Kaumi said, “It was indeed a dream come true because I never ever thought I will become a medical doctor. So, Alhamdulillah, I’m very grateful to the Vice President. Without him, I don’t think I would have become a medical doctor today. It was not easy; it was a kind of roller coaster of hardship and the courage to study well so that we can come here and help our people in Borno State. So, we are very grateful to him. His Excellency, the governor of Borno State is really doing well in trying to equip the hospitals. We are really grateful.”
Retrospectively, the health and education sectors received adequate attention in Borno State under Senator Shettima as governor. Apart from human capital development which led to foreign scholarships for the ever-grateful medical doctors to study abroad, the then Governor Shettima utilized available resources at his disposal to rehabilitate hospitals destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgents and for the procurement of equipment for some reconstructed health facilities.
As Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, an opportunity given to him by his boss, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, VP Shetima is poised to replicate the same leadership of lifting the vision of Nigerians complementing Mr President’s effort at raising performance to a higher levels as well as improving standard of living beyond normal limitations.
The signs are becoming very clear in just less than a year of the Tinubu-led Renewed Hope administration. As the administration advances in the course of changing the narrative for Nigerians, it will become glaring to all why President Tinubu settled for a Vice President who is trustworthy, visionary, loyal and capable.
Nkwocha, spokesman of Vice President Kashim Shettima wrote in from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The Facts/Data…
You: What is the number of total medical school matriculants in the USA?
Copilot GPT: For the 2023-2024 academic year, a total of 22,712 students matriculated into U.S. medical schools12.
This represents an increase of 1.9% compared to the previous year and a significant 37.5% increase from the year 20022.
The growth in medical school matriculants reflects ongoing efforts to enhance diversity and expand the physician workforce.
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You: How many African American medical doctors graduated in the USA in 2023?
Copilot GPT: In the United States, the number of Black or African American medical school graduates remained relatively stable in 2023-24.
They constituted 10.0% of the total matriculants, which is a slight decrease from 10.2% in 2022-23, but an improvement from 8.4% in 2016-17.
Additionally, Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish Origin matriculants increased to 12.7% this year, up from 12.3% last year and 10.5% in 2016-171.
While the overall number of applicants to medical schools declined for a second consecutive year, the total medical school enrollment still grew by 1.6%.
Efforts to increase diversity among applicants and matriculants continue, recognizing that a more diverse physician workforce can positively impact health outcomes in our communities1.
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You: how many percent of medical students really become medical doctors in the USA?
Copilot: According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), it is estimated that around 80-90% of medical students graduate and successfully become doctors.
An even greater percentage, approximately 96%, successfully completed six-year programs1.
You: How many percent of USA African medical doctors are female
Copilot GPT: In the United States, the representation of Black or African American physicians in the medical workforce is essential, but unfortunately, it remains relatively low.
As of 2018, only 5.0% of all active physicians identified as Black or African American1. However, let’s delve deeper into the gender breakdown:
- Black or African American Physicians Overall:
- Among all active physicians, 5.0% are Black or African American.
- The largest subgroup after White and Asian physicians is the category of Unknown race, accounting for 13.7% of active physicians1.
- Black or African American Female Physicians:
- While specific data on the percentage of Black or African American female physicians is not readily available in the provided sources, we can infer from broader statistics. In the United States, just 2% of all active physicians are Black women2.
- The overall representation of Black physicians (both men and women) has changed little over time. By 2018, when 12.8% of the total population was Black, 5.4% of U.S. physicians were Black (comprising 2.6% Black men and 2.8% Black women)3.
- In 2015, the gender gap among Black or African American medical school graduates was 31%4.
While progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to increase diversity and ensure equitable representation in the medical field. Encouraging more Black women to pursue careers in medicine is crucial for addressing health disparities and providing culturally competent care.
1 aamc.org 2 shape.com 3 newsroom.ucla.edu 4 aamc.org 5 aamc.org
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It is very expensive to attend medical school in the USA…
As of 2022, the average cost of attending medical school, including tuition, fees, and living expenses, could range from approximately $32,000 to $82,000 per year for in-state students at public medical schools, and from $55,000 to $112,000 per year for out-of-state students at public medical schools. For private medical schools, the average cost could be even higher, often exceeding $60,000 per year. –
Thus four-year medical school may cost students over USD240,000… or Borno has invested the equivalent of USD14.4 million or N17,712,000,000 nearly N18 billion in the 60 medical students!
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Very encouraging to see this FGN initiative…
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Over a decade ago Chief Frank McMaye one of the global leaders in Information Technology visited the then-former Rivers Governor Dr. Odili about companies wanting to invest in Nigeria in Outsourcing… the former governor did not understand and showed no interest… thus the initiative was moved to Asia…
Here was Nigeria’s 2023 Crude Oil revenues…
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Here is the outsourcing revenue of the Asian nations annually in 2023…
USD 79 billion… that is (at N1,230/1N) – that is N97,551,300,000,000 or N97 trillion per year…
https://www.tdsgs.com/blog/outsourcing-asia#
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Here is an excerpt of an email I once wrote to Chief McMaye about some of his exceptional accomplishments:
In addition to raising a world-class family, you are one of the architects of the modern USA… The added value of trillions of USD to the USA economy…
1. You have worked and provided the brain power at Palm Inc. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm,_Inc. ]
and when you gave them the idea of what became the Apple iPhone the executives did not comprehend your vision… today Apple is richer than the whole of Africa… https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/01/apple-earnings-q1-2018-how-much-money-does-apple-have.html with a market capitalization of the market capitalization of one trillion USD – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/02/apple-hits-1-trillion-in-market-value.html
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You and your team came up with the idea of the Broadband wireless system WiMax for Nigeria over 20 years ago and I remember presenting the idea to the then Governor of Rivers Dr. Peter Odili and he could not comprehend what you were telling him… cut the story short – New York City implemented the idea of city-wide free-wifi last year –https://www.link.nyc/ – over a decade after you conceived the idea for Nigeria… https://www.link.nyc/
3. You provided the technical know-how for the Cray Super-Computer which is used by major research institutions and the US Govt pays over USA97 million – http://investors.cray.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=98390&p=irol-newsarticle&ID=1615561 – that is the computer that is used to simulate war games and climate changes, build Nuclear bomb, design Boeing and Airbus jets, etc…
4. You, Bro. Charles Orbih, Hodge Wakoma, and Bassey Etudoko helped CISCO Systems; SUN Micro-system now part of Oracle; become one of the computer hardware companies in the world. Just imagine – 3 billion devices run on Java – https://medium.com/@johnword_12324/according-to-oracle-3-billion-devices-run-on-java-f30c2ecf341f and with the – Internet of Things – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things – maybe 300 trillion things will run on Java…
5. You are the author of many books including your latest best-seller – https://www.amazon.com/Project-Manager-Mom-Frank-McMaye-ebook/dp/B079KHP7J6/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1533317429&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=mom+mcmaye ]
6. You, Bro. Charles Orbih, Hodge Wakoma, Bassey Etudoko – sent the first email into Nigeria – through Italy to YabaTech in the 1980s… here in the 1990s – https://nsrc.org/db/lookup/report.php?id=890202360543:497430559&fromISO=NG
7. You helped with rolling out the Red Carpet for HE former VP Atiku’s visit to California. Also helped with the former Min. Gov. Shekarau’s visit – even flew the Nigerian Flag at their HQ on that day…
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I know you do not like our youth to flee or Japa… but here is what awaits the young Doctors you trained…
In the United States, the median annual wage for physicians and surgeons in 2022 was $229,300 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). [that is N282,039,000 – that is over N282 million per year]…
This amount is nearly five times more than the general median wage for all occupations, which stood at $46,3101.
Becoming a physician or surgeon requires extensive education and training, and these professions are among the most demanding in terms of stress and long hours. However, the investment in time and training pays off, as physicians are some of the highest-earning healthcare practitioners and among the top earners in the country.
Here’s a breakdown of physician earnings by specialty:
- Cardiologists: The highest-earning specialty with an average annual wage of $421,330.
- Non-pediatric orthopedic surgeons: Follow closely with an average wage of $371,400.
- Pediatric surgeons: Earn an average of $362,970 annually1.
Even the lowest-paid physicians and surgeons, such as pediatricians, family medicine physicians, and general internal medicine physicians, still make more than twice the median earnings of non-physician healthcare practitioners12.
Remember that salaries can vary by location, specialty, and experience. However, overall, physicians and surgeons remain some of the most well-compensated professionals in the United States.
1 usafacts.org 2 money.usnews.com 3 bls.gov
Regardless these young Doctors stay at home or Japa you have done an amazing historic thing… thank you, sir!
I am more than guilty too as the great people of Borno have invested vast amounts of scarce resources in educating… I can never ever repay the great people of Borno… but to say thank you and I am grateful…
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Strategic investments in education:
I had the privilege of you (as sitting Governor of Borno State-then) personally driving us (Hon. Sen. Ba’a Kaka and Hon. Rep Rais) in your car and showing me many of these new mega schools your administration built when I was visiting Maiduguri…
There were nearly 50 of these mega schools in Maiduguri Metropolitan LGA alone with an enrollment capacity of over 50,000 students. In addition, many similar schools have been built in many LGAs…
I can attest that the schools – classrooms, labs, lounges, admin., teachers and staff quarters, offices, cafeteria, library, lavatories, staff quarters, religion centers for both Christians and Muslims, etc… are world-class standards!
You also drove me to Borno State University where I saw you personally planting trees (we need to get Carbon Credits for these o’…) On a serious note, it will be interesting to see how the trees have grown!
My favorite was the visit to the nomadic Mbororo Fulani children’s school in the New GRA… the significance is the children of these poor Maigadi/Gatekeepers and non-highly connected Nigerians will be not only Nigerian leaders but world leaders… Just imagine 3-D Printing in Maiduguri… wonder if any Primary School in any part of Nigeria has this advanced technology…
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A friend sent me the WhatsApp message below
“THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF EDUCATION.
- British PM is an Indian
- American VP is an Indian
- Citigroup CEO was an Indian
- SoftBank Vision Fund CEO is an Indian
- Adobe CEO is an Indian
- NetApp CEO is an Indian
- PepsiCo CEO was an Indian
- Nokia CEO is an Indian
- MasterCard CEO is an Indian
- DBS CEO is an Indian
- Cognizant CEO was an Indian
- Novartis CEO is an Indian
- Conduent CEO was Indian
- Diageo CEO is an Indian
- SanDisk CEO was an Indian
- Motorola CEO was an Indian
- Harman CEO is an Indian
- Micron CEO is an Indian
- Palo Alto Networks CEO is an Indian
- Reckitt Benckiser CEO is an Indian
- Now IBM CEO is also an Indian-origin guy
- Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer is an Indian
- Britain’s Home Secretary is an Indian
- Ireland’s Prime minister is an Indian.
- Google CEO Indian
- Microsoft CEO Indian
So who’s running the World?
Very interesting! That is the result of India’s policy since the early fifties to focus on education.
Dr Abraham’s Comment:
Interesting…to know that they were just as abused as Blacks, yet they have quietly gone on to make an impact in the world!
And the CEO of Dangote Group of Companies is an Indian!
There is no alternative to quality education.
The price of greatness is responsibility! Sir Winston Churchill.
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Nigeria’s appointment with destiny… to be a great nation…
