Women Academics From Nigeria

"There’s always time for everything. When I’m in the office, I’m in the office. When I get home, I dedicate myself to my family"

"So hard work, discipline, good team player, honesty and dedication to whatever you’re doing. Then the sky is your limit. You don’t have any glass ceiling. I’ve said over and over, I don’t have any glass ceiling. Wherever I want to go, I can get there with God’s blessing."

"So as a female, you have to prove yourself beyond reasonable doubt that you can do it. You do extra because you are a female to prove that you can do it compared to your male colleagues who probably don’t need to prove themselves."

"We’re looking at how we can prevent women from dying from postpartum haemorrhage. We’re also looking at how we can treat women with anaemia in pregnancy, both in pregnancy and after delivery. We’re also looking at how our women in low-middle-income countries can access treatment for severe preeclampsia."

"You need to get the support, you need to do it of course and ultimately God will support you and give you all the blessings you need and you can achieve your dreams and goals."

"Polio is a viral disease and it multiplies where you have a dirty environment. But with the effective polio immunization programmes on ground, we will not have reoccurrence of cases of polio again. This goes for the other childhood diseases as well, If government can sustain the expanded programme on immunization, we will definitely get rid of polio and all other child killer diseases. And I want to assure that my office will ensure it is sustained in Benue here."

"I love to share whatever I know, passing it on to others. If I keep it to myself, it is useless. I know they can utilize it to save more lives and subsequently train others."

"Just follow your dreams. Get the knowledge, have the motivation, and then you can get anywhere you set your mind to."

"As a woman, I think it’s always important you have support. I don’t think you can achieve a lot without support. And of course, your support can be from whoever you feel can support you."

"I keep on telling young women that if you really have the support of these two men, your dad and your husband or your partner, then the sky is your limit. You really don’t have a glass ceiling once you have the support of these people."

"This issue is not peculiar to Benue state alone. They have an act that enable them to market their traditional medicine. So, I am not going to tell you that we are going to close down their businesses but we are going to monitor and control their activities. Like in the conventional medicine, the doctors, we are not allowed to advertise our practices. It is against our ethics. So we need to bring these people to the knowledge that advertisement is not allowed in health matters. Your results should attract more patients to you and not you singing your praises."

"Simple measures like digging pit toilets will go a long way to control cholera. But you see them defecating in the bush and when rain fall, all the feases will be washed into their water source and they will still fetch it to cook and drink. So why won’t there be cholera. So if there is adequate provision of portable water in the state and simple health education to communities that some habits are injurious to their health, it will curb cholera."

"I have witnessed a situation where a patient approach a healthcare centre and the doctor is not there. Anything can happen so I advised them to take their work serious and to be there when they need to be there. Healthcare delivery is like playing football. If I pass the ball to you and you refuse to pass it where it is supposed to be passed, the person can die and you know death is irreversible."

"As at July 2016, resistance to the first –line treatment for P. falciparum malaria(Artemisinin-based combination therapies also known as (ACTs), has been confirmed in five countries of the Greater Mekong sub –region. The Greater Mekong sub-region include Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam."

"The spread of resistant strains to other parts of the world, including Nigeria, has now become a major public health challenge."

"I call for coordinated action globally to minimise the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance to malaria and all countries need national action plans for malaria-resistant drugs."

"They consume more health-care resources than patients infected with non-resistant strains of the same bacteria."

"In October 2015, two independent WHO advisory groups recommended the pilot implementation of RTS, S/ASO1 in parts of three to five sub-Saharan African countries."

"WHO has adopted these recommendations and is strongly supportive of the need to proceed with the pilots as the next step for the world’s first malaria vaccine."

"RTS, S/AS01 is being assessed as a complementary malaria control tool that could potentially be added to and not replace the core package of proven malaria preventive, diagnostic and treatment measures."

"The poor masses are also affected due to ineffective and costly way of treatment, which cannot be afforded by the parents."

"RTS, S/AS01 is the most advanced vaccine against the most deadly form of human malaria –Plasmodium falciparum."

"Any patient that is positive for malaria on the rapid diagnostic test should be treated with an efficacious drug and that is Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) and not chloroquine. Chloroquine has failed. Many adults will tell you chloroquine works for malaria. But that is because chloroquine has an anti-inflammatory effect and so the aches and pains will go. Chloroquine also has fever-lowering effects which also makes the patient feel better as the fever resolves at least for a while as he/she will not feel febrile but the parasites are still swimming in the blood and growing because the parasites have developed resistance to it."

"A lot of the adults say chloroquine works because they had never had malaria to start with. They were probably stressed or tired from too much work or a hectic lifestyle. So, instead of resting, they conclude that they have malaria and then go ahead to take chloroquine before retiring to bed. By the time they have slept for a day or two, they feel fine, and they assume that they had malaria that chloroquine cured."

"More than 20 other vaccine constructs are currently being evaluated in clinical trials or are at an advanced pre-clinical development."

"In July 2015, the European Medicines Agency issued a positive scientific opinion on the vaccine’s risk-benefit balance."

"It is important for the populace to know that malaria has no particular signs and symptoms. The signs and symptoms you get in malaria are the same as what you will get in any infection like pneumonia, hepatitis, or some other viral infection. Even with a boil that is not in a very visible place, there could be a fever, headache, as well as aches and pains. It thus becomes important that malaria diagnosis is confirmed by laboratory diagnosis using malaria rapid diagnostic test or quality-assured microscopy."

"Antibiotic resistance is present in every country. Patients with infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria are at risk of worse clinical outcomes and death."

"Whether you are working at a COVID-19 centre or not, all of us are exposed to the virus. Patients come in for acute surgical operation, without even knowing they have COVID-19. But when we check for signs and symptoms, we get to discover they are positive."

"I am even talking about pregnant women in labour who have COVID-19. That’s why I said everybody in the hospital is exposed and needs to take precaution."

"New researches are on-going to develop new antimicrobial medicines and vaccines to tackle malaria- resistance, which has now become a burden to public health"

"The masses in Nigeria, particularly at the grassroots, need to be properly informed about this. Otherwise, Nigerians will read another meaning into the efforts of government and the World Health Organisation (WHO)."

"Nigerians find faults easily in government policies and efforts geared towards their welfare."

"When some people are told they have COVID-19 after the laboratory test, they will say ‘It is not my portion’ and hide the result. They will come and start complaining again, hoping the doctor will come to a different conclusion."

"They should be informed by healthcare givers, community centres, the media and all stakeholders that what the vaccine does is to reduce the attack of malaria and not to totally prevent it."

"A pharmaceutical error can wipe out a generation of people, so there is need for government to sanction producers of counterfeit malaria drugs."

"More researches should be encouraged for non-communicable disease like malaria while rational and acceptable use of recommended drug should be encouraged."

"The malaria vaccine reduces prevalence, morbidity, and mortality from malaria attacks; the concern is that people take three antigens and then take the vaccines."

"Access to the right medicine will go a long way in assisting to stem the malaria scourge and drug manufacturers should also stick to the WHO recommended manufacturers standard."

"The vaccines only reduce the risks of malaria by 35 per cent; it does not prevent malaria like other vaccines that babies take at birth for prevention of communicable diseases."

"Thus severely reprimanded and absolutely embarrassed, we sat down quickly and throughout that Equity lesson, prayed earnestly that he would forget our first meeting. It was not a favourable introduction and so I sat down quickly beside Tessy who promptly settled down and started taking notes as the lecture progressed."

"Secondly, some patients have COVID-19 and won’t want the health workers to screen them. They want immediate attention. The health care workers are human beings too. But as much as possible, we are making efforts to ensure that everybody gets attended to. But we must take precaution."

"Andrew had achieved a First Class Hons Degree in Law from the University of Jos and qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor at the Law School in Victoria Island Lagos -graduating with the best overall result in the Nigerian Law School in his year 1981. He was awarded the Teslim Elias Prize for “The Best Overall Performance” at the Nigerian Law School and was also awarded a second prize which was the Nabo Graham-Douglas Prize for Commercial Law at the Nigerian Law in the same year. At 25yrs he produced a well acclaimed thesis on, “Legal Pluralism in the Land Law of Southern Nigeria” and achieved a PHD in Law from Birmingham University UK in 1987."

"Andrew was a brilliant, intelligent and well-read young man and was serving at the time as the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law at Enugu Campus. He was lecturing within the Law school at the time and taught my classmates and I the much dreaded “Equity Law”. He was noted as UNEC’s most eligible bachelor and many of the ladies in our class gawked at Andrew, wanting to date him, marry him – whatever… well so did I. He was 28yrs old and I was 20yrs old."

"I can honestly say that I heard nothing, saw nothing, and understood nothing - apart from staring in awe at the face of the gorgeous Dr Iwobi! I was so lost in wonder that Tessy nudged me a few times and said, “Uzo! stop this at once and face your book ooo, with all the people interested in him – such a man will definitely have a lady in his life”. I totally ignored Tessy and stared at him for the entire lesson – I do not recall writing anything down during that first lesson."

"Andrew and I met at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus Law School lecture hall in 1989. Andrew was a dashing young and extremely handsome man with a bright future ahead of him. Andrew comes from a mixed heritage background – his mum Letty is from a white English / Jewish heritage and his dad Charles is a black Nigerian man. He was highly sought after by many young ladies in our university and by other young women within his circle of friends not just for his dashing good looks and charming personality, but he had an outstanding academic background."

"I am absolutely speechless and humbled to receive this wonderful news. Looking back at my 23year old self who arrived in Wales I could not have imagined this moment. Having worked so hard to gain acceptance, to have been mentored by so many amazing people and believe ever so strongly – that by God’s grace, hard work and determination pays off – I thank whoever nominated me and honestly can’t describe how humbled and delighted I am to receive this news from the brilliant WEN Wales team"

"I want to say to all the students – believe in yourself, work extremely hard, never take no for an answer, keep pounding on those doors and be prepared that you will fail at some thimngs and that is actually ok because you learn but never ever give up. I believe if you keep going and follow the lessons you’ve learned at this University the sky is our limit."

"As you may guess, I got only a C for Equity Law following the assessment that year (but later when we got engaged) I asked him why he had given me such a low score when I did so well at the other law subjects, he said (with an amused grin), “I didn’t give you a C, you deserved a C – you probably hardly listened during my lectures – you were too busy admiring the lecturer”! I have not let him forget that he marked my paper extremely harshly! That was how we met!"

"Thank you all so much for inspiring me – diolch yn fawr from a truly grateful Welsh Nigerian woman."