-And she swept 16 of 21 awards
Lotachi Onyemenam, the fresh Nigerian medical doctor trained in Ghana has sent the public media and information space wagging in the past one week.
The wags are busy for good because Lotachi did good, broke the records and set new standards for those to come later in her field of training.
The uncommon feat of sweeping 16 out of a total 21 awards was simply greedy, the positive way. But since she worked for it and never got it on a platter as she revealed to the ACMC, she deserves all the tales that reverberate from her lofty academic achievement.
Striking again and again
At the honours roll call of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), School of Medical Sciences (SMS), Ghana, the name, Dr. Lotachi Ugwunwa Onyemenam rang repeatedly for 16 times, calling her up to the stage to take her merit awards for standing out among others.
A Ghana media report noted that: “As she was called to receive her awards, she was given a standing ovation from the Chancellor of UCC, Sir Sam Essuon Jonah, the Vice Chancellor Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare as well as her colleagues. In all she received about 6000 Cedis cash prize, citations and plaques for her achievement.”
However, one outstanding feature of the graduation is that whereas the class was made of male and female students, all the male students were dusted and relegated as only the females took the 21 awards at stake. While Lotachi alone had 16, the rest of the ladies literally scrounged for her leftover.
The other ladies that took over from where Lotachi stopped were – Dr. Akorfa Ama Wotordzo who got four awards, and Dr. Amanda Naa Atwei Bruce Adjei who got one award.
Winning the tug-of-war
However, what the public has known is that she mopped up almost all the awards in faraway Ghana, but never heard the real story of this resilient scholar that beat the odds to rule her world.
The young doctor’s true story is that the failed accreditation of her first university, the University of Abuja, cost her three wasted years.
She had enrolled in the university to study medicine and surgery, but after three years, the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) declared the Abuja varsity was found wanting and unfit to train medics. That department was obliterated and the students found their separate ways to lick their wounds and possibly live with the frustration.
But to Lotachi, she could not brood forever over this setback. She got encouraged and took up another admission in Ghana and still on the course of her dream – medicine. Asked if she continued in Ghana from where she had stopped in Abuja, she answered: “don’t forget that the department was denied accreditation because it wasn’t fit. So we didn’t take any qualifying exams and had nothing absolutely to show for those three years. They were just wasted time.”
So, instead of the normal seven years of training, hers was plus three years. But eventually, she made it, and made it big.
A star in her galaxy
That day, August 18, she shone bright like the stars in the galaxy of awards and merit plaques she had created for herself through hard work.
In a chat with her, she said: “There was nothing extraordinary I did as a student. I was just like every other student that studied and lived just the way the rest did. Actually, medical students study much, together with practicals and clinical works, but outside the curriculum, I studied an average of six hours on weekdays and up to 10 hours on weekends because there were no lectures.
“Whatever my performance turned out to be is just God’s grace and making. No doubt, I got encouragement and all the support from my family, but the rest all came from God’s kindness.”
Defying social pressure
On the social pressures of her age, especially the social media, she said: “I am not the social media type of person naturally. I have a facebook account but can’t remember the last time I looked at it. I got Instagram and Twitter accounts just some days after my graduation. I can also say I am not the outdoor type of person and all my social life are at home. I know there is pressure on my age, but I don’t let it get at me. And I would advise my age to take it easy, slow down on social media life and focus more on building their career and future after which there would be enough time for the social pressures.”
Regarding the internet or new media, she said, of course she heavily used the internet for her research and studies and it just stopped there. “What I would advise my age also is the need to profitably use the internet for building the future and not in destructive addictive ways. But in my student days, I actually went out when it was compelling because our fees included costs of social outings that involved visiting places of interest, so I was always part of it, maybe just once in a semester.”
Lotachi is already thinking ahead in her career and plans to pursue her specialization in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, a pursuit she said she would want to go through in Nigeria.
Dr. Lotachi Onyemenam’s award list
1. Best Student in Anatomy
2. Best students in Medical Biochemistry
3. Best Graduating student in physiology
4. Best Medical Informatics Student
5. Best Student in Microbiology
6. Best Student in Community-Based Experience and Service
7. Best Student in Chemical Pathology
8. Best Student in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
9. Overall best student in surgery
10. Best Student in Molecular Medicine
11. Best Graduating Student in Pharmacology
12. Best Graduating Clinical Student
13. Best Graduating Pre-Clinical Student
14. The Ghana Medical Association Prize for Best Student in MB ChB
15. Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Best Overall Performance.
Photos by Ifeanacho Emewu
Lotachi flanked by mum and another dignitary
Lotachi, second from left with her colleague awardees and university dignitaries
Inset photos of Lotachi beaming with smiles for her success
