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How i dropped out of UNILORIN after studying Medicine for 10 years – UNILAG First class graduate,Mansur Ismaila reveals
One of the best graduating students of the University of Lagos, Mansur Ismaila, in this interview with Folashade Adebayo and Sodiq Oyeleke, shares his pains and gains of dropping out of medical school after 10 years at the University of Ilorin, two weeks to his final examination.
Kindly tell us about yourself
I am Mansur Akolade Ismaila. I just graduated with a Bachelors degree from the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos.
What is the Cumulative Grade Point you graduated with?
I graduated with a CGPA of 4.59.
How do you feel graduating as a first class student?
I feel happy and I feel relieved, too.
What are the factors responsible for your feat?
The God factor; mentorship and guidance; focus and doggedness; broad-based teaching and support from my lecturers; my academic and cognitive maturity, harnessed from my years in medical school.
You were a medical student?
I was in the University of Ilorin, where I studied Medicine and Surgery for a total of 10 years, precisely between 2001 and 2011.
Can you share some of your experiences at UNILORIN?
UNILORIN was hellish for me. I never wanted to become a medical doctor in the first place. While I was at the institution, the course was made unbearable, and I think unnecessarily difficult then. Tens of us were failing and repeating serially, and several colleagues were withdrawn in shocking circumstances; some at 500 level and even final year! But I was different, in that, despite the fact that I repeated 200, 300, 500 and 600 levels and spent a total 10 years instead of six years at the UNILORIN Medical School, I really never wanted to become a doctor. Deep down in me, I really was never a doctor. My heart was always somewhere else; in journalism or law. I chose journalism after I voluntarily withdrew from medical school in my 10th year, that was two weeks to my second attempt at the final MBBS exams. The rest is history.
Why did you drop out of medical school?
I was originally pressured into studying Medicine by my father. But he made an innocuous, and I must say, a well-intentioned error. Like many Nigerian parents, he wanted me to be in science class in secondary school and proceed to study the “best course in the world”. For several other personal, and seemingly justified reasons, he pushed me into medical school and kept me there, paying lots of money year after year to sustain me, for 10 years. Unfortunately, I was quite brilliant in secondary school and I didn’t fail badly enough to send warning signals then. Trouble only started in the second year of MBBS. Unfortunately again, I had zero interest in medicine, and very strong feelings for the news, the media, reading and public speaking. Then and now, I remain a voracious consumer of the news, and the common complaint of my friends has always been that I talk too much. Today, I talk for money (laughs). I dropped out of medicine because I could not take it no more. It was killing me. It destroyed my cognitive acumen, and turned me into a sad, depressed man; a perpetual failure. Essentially, I spent the 10 years studying medicine and discovering myself. The experience subconsciously prepared me for a new life of success in Mass Communication.
What are the lessons you learnt from your ordeal?
Many lessons. And I’ve decided to spend the rest of my life teaching those lessons to parents and their children. Firstly, parents need to listen to their kids concerning their ambitions. Parents should not foist their own aspirations on their children, no matter the economic and social pressure. You really can’t make tons of money from a profession you hate because you had probably not do well in it in the first instance. Second, children should go the extra mile to convince their parents as to their education and career choices. If you’ve got no clear focus and ambition, you’d have no choice but to act another person’s script.
What are the challenges you encountered before and after taking the decision to drop out of medical school?
Challenges? Yes, many. I had lots of antagonists, including close family and friends. Eventually, I had to stop listening to the naysayers. They all promptly ‘converted’ after my first semester exams in UNILAG, which ended with a First Class GPA; 4.67. I also had funding issues, especially at those times when my dad had not converted yet. I had to pay for crucial crossover exams like WASSCE, GCE, UTME and Post-UTME exams. I had to engage in petty business; bulk SMS to be precise, and my mum paid for the rest. For that, I’m eternally grateful to my mum. She is a huge reason I climbed into a First Class and stayed there till the end. Adjusting to life in the Social Sciences/Arts was also a challenge. I had to buy all the necessary books and read them back to back. Eventually, I spent two months studying for the usual three-year arts class, and the results shocked even me! I had distinctions in all the subjects I offered at WASSCE and GCE, a high score in UTME for that period and a smooth ride into UNILAG, on the merit list.
When you see some of your course mates in UNILORIN, how do you feel?
I feel great now. They’re great doctors. I’m an aspiring journalist, and a proud medical school dropout (laughs).
Is your experience part of why you strived for first class?
Yes, definitely. I needed to do well in my new course of study. But also for hundreds, probably thousands of youths who are going through the hell I went through. I wanted to use my story to tell them, and their parents, that it pays to follow their passion and not succumb to forced and foisted ambitions.
Do you have any regret for dropping out?
Absolutely no regrets. Absolutely none.
How do your parents feel with your feat?
My parents are my greatest supporters now, especially my dad. He put me under so much pressure during my project writing and I was elated. My mum is at the very top of the list of my fans. Usually, when I called her then that I’ve secured yet another First Class semester GPA, my darling mum would start dancing. I had to keep her dancing. So I had to remain on the First Class till the very end.
What is your greatest regret as an undergraduate?
Greatest regret? I’d have loved to be more involved in politics. But my course adviser and father-figure, Pastor Tayo Popoola asked me to choose between student politics and a First Class. I chose the First Class. In my department, you hardly can have both.
If you have opportunity to ask UNILAG management for something, what will it be?
I would beg the UNILAG authorities to grant me a Graduate Assistantship. My passions really lie in teaching and research, and I’d love to settle into the university as soon as possible, especially because of my relatively advanced age.
When was your saddest moment on campus?
My saddest moment? None. I only had challenging moments. And they made, not marred me. All the sad days went away with medical school.
What role did your parents play in your education?
My mum was very supportive, from the very beginning of this academic gamble cum adventure. My dad was a late believer in this idea, but he eventually came around to support me too.
How were you able to combine extra-curricular activities with your studies?
It was always school first. But a lot of times, those extracurricular activities actually meshed with school, a good example of which was my two-tenure UNILAG Sun Editor-in-Chief experience.
Did you occupy any position while on campus?
Yes. I will be best remembered as a two-term Editor-in-Chief of UNILAG Sun, the flagship convocation newspaper of the University of Lagos.
What is next for you?
I will remain in the media industry for a while, after which I intend to return to my department as a Graduate Assistant. I plan to also proceed for my postgraduate studies. I wish to focus on teaching and research.
How were you able to manage your social life?
Social life? If you meant clubbing, partying and drinking? None. Till date, my common nickname all over UNILAG is Alfa. I had fun though, tons and tons of it, but within the limits of my religion.
Advice to youths that may be experiencing the kind of challenges you faced?
Follow your passion, and convince your parents and guardians to let you. There are three ingredients to academic and career success: passion, demonstrated ability and the God factor.
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
celebrity radar - gossips
Nationwide Talent, One Broadcaster: Tinubu Picks Pedro, Bello, Din, Mohammed to Lead NTA
Tinubu Overhauls NTA Leadership: Media Powerhouse Rotimi Pedro Takes Helm as DG
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced a major shake-up at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), appointing renowned media executive Rotimi Richard Pedro as the new Director-General in a move widely seen as a bold step toward modernising the state broadcaster.
Pedro, a Lagos native, brings nearly 30 years of expertise in broadcasting, sports rights, and marketing communications across Africa, the UK, and the Middle East. A trained entertainment and intellectual property lawyer, he also holds an MSc in Investment Management and Finance from City University Business School, London.
In 1995, Pedro founded Optima Sports Management International (OSMI), which rose to become one of Africa’s leading sports content providers—distributing premium events such as the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, and CAF competitions to audiences in over 40 countries.
His career highlights include top roles at Bloomberg Television Africa and Rapid Blue Format, as well as advisory work for FIFA, UEFA, Fremantle Media, and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB). At the AUB, he was instrumental in securing exclusive pan-African free-to-air media rights for all CAF competitions.
Alongside Pedro’s appointment, Tinubu named Karimah Bello from Katsina State as Executive Director of Marketing, Stella Din from Plateau State as Executive Director of News, and Sophia Issa Mohammed from Adamawa State as Managing Director of NTA Enterprises Limited.
Industry insiders credit Pedro with building commercially viable broadcast platforms, driving sponsorship growth, and delivering world-class content to African audiences. His appointment marks one of the most significant leadership changes at NTA in years—signalling the government’s intent to strengthen the broadcaster’s competitiveness in a fast-evolving media landscape.
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