Nigerian orphan emerges best graduating medical doctor in Sudan

Dr Islamiyat Oluwatoyin Abdulkadir was only six years old when she became an orphan.

Her father died when she was three, only for her mother to also pass on three years thereafter.


But Islamiyat has soldiered on, making waves in her educational pursuits the latest being her emergence as the overall best graduating medical student at the International University of Africa, Khartoum, Sudan.

“My academic achievement so far till today, seems like a miracle to me. Not only that, my life as a whole, is a pack of miracles,” she said by phone on her exploits.

She was in primary school when her mother died and was left in the care of her grandmother, with no hope of furthering her education again.

Recalling how she was able to pick the pieces of her life, she said: “thinking that was the end of schooling for me, my grandmother withdrew me from the school but the founder, Alhaja Sekinat Adekola , gave me scholarship for my primary and secondary education.

“I emerged best student in my primary and secondary schools and even in my WASC and had a high score of 274 in my JAMB examinations.

“I have always had passion to be a medical doctor, but because I was not sure of my chances I filled Bio-Chemistry in my JAMB form and came out with a high score of 274.

“This score was high enough to get me into the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and with the hope of changing to medicine later.

“I had to jettison this dream because of the financial commitment involved in studying medicine. It was at this time that an admission team from International University of Africa, Sudan came to recruit Nigerian students into their school of Nursing.

“I presented myself for the written and oral interview and luck once again smiled on me as I emerged the best student and a scholarship was awarded me for my admission in their school of nursing.

“After the end of the first semester examination I emerged the best student, and the opportunity I had been waiting for presented itself. I approached the School’s Faculty of Medicine for a cross over from Nursing Faculty to Medicine, and the request was granted.

“So through thick and thin of financial difficulties, culture shock, hunger and loneliness, I braved it through and emerged the best graduating student, of the medical school on September 2, 2016. “For me to clinch the overall best student, I had a CGPA of 3.37/4.00, making a ground breaking record in the history of the faculty by scoring above 3.24, the last highest grade,” she said. Abdulkadir said her graduation speech was full of emotions and gratitude to Almighty Allah, who brought her from nothing to something.

She added that her dead parents would be happy in their graves with her achievements. “One certain thing I know about myself which cannot be disputed is that I am a living miracle of Allah.

“If you have searched for a proof of miracle but to no avail, look no further as I am here to testify to the miracles of God.”

She was full of gratitude to those she branded her  God- sent angels: Alhaja Sekinat Adekola, founder, Proprietress of AD-din International Group of Schools and  her  academic mentor, Dr Adefemi Afolabi, Senior Lecturer and Consultant General Surgeon, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, UCH, Ibadan, Nigeria.

She plans to give back to the society where she comes from: Oyo State, Nigeria as a whole and most especially, the children.

Her words: “I believe that the definition of success is incomplete without giving back to the society.”


Dr Adefemi Afolabi said he met the young doctor on Face book.

“Mark Zuckerberg provided the medium Facebook, through which I accepted to be her mentor at a critical stage in her education career,” he said.

“I am proud to describe her as my princess, daughter, mentee; I know she is meant for the top of her medical career. She told me she is highly motivated to give back to children who are growing up in difficult circumstances through her social entrepreneurial skills in the future.”

He enjoined well meaning Nigerians and philanthropists to reach out to many of the indigent students who are still struggling to accomplish their dreams of a better future.

Alhaja Adekola, the Founder of the Ad-din group of schools said all glory should go back to Allah.

She said: “I am happy to be part of her success story through the grace of Allah. I charge other less fortunate children to always accept their lot with Allah.

“They should be focused and determined in achieving their aims and purpose in life; Islamiyah was very determined to make it in life and she is making it. “International women join the Nigerian women in congratulating Islamiyah Abdulkadir in achieving this feat.”