OCI Foundation sponsors NiMSA’s maiden National Essay Competition (LAMS); Commits to a partnership with the national body of the Nigerian Medical Students Association (NiMSA)

In fulfillment of its new resolve support and improve the literary skills of Nigerian doctors in training, the OCI Foundation has pledged to partner with the Nigerian Medical Students Association (NiMSA), and will be sponsoring the Literary Award for medical Students (LAMS) at the national level from late 2021.

This was part of the speech delivered to NiMSA attendees at a Virtual Award Ceremony held on Saturday, May the 29^th, 2021, by Assoc. Prof. Chris Ifediora, the President and Founder of the OCI Foundation. Prof Ifediora was the guest speaker at the event, during which the OCI Foundation rewarded the top 3 performers from the maiden (2020) edition of the Auwal Shanano Foundation National Essay Competition (TASNEC).

TASNEC was established by NiMSA in honour of its former President, the late Auwal Shanano, who died in 2011 while on active service for NiMSA. The maiden competition in late 2020 was initiated by NiMSA, and at the time, independent of the OCI Foundation. Due to difficulties in fulfilling the benefits tied to the award, the OCI Foundation was approached to assist, and the Foundation’s Board graciously voted in the affirmative.

NiMSA is the national body that represents all the medical students in Nigeria, and is made up of medical schools from all six geo-political zones in Nigeria.

Winners of the TASNEC 2020 (Maiden) Edition

• FIRST PRIZE: Mr Charles Victory Odigbo – University of Nigeria Medical School.
• SECOND PRIZE: Mr Daniel Jeremiah Oluwatomi Itodo – Obafemi Awolowo University Medical School.
• THIRD PRIZE: Mr Jeffery Uduehimsa; University of Benin Medical School.

It should be recalled the, in August 2020, the OCI Foundation sponsored the first-ever Literary Award for Medical Students (LAMS). At the time, it was staged only for the medical schools South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, who initiated the idea. With this announcement, all geo-political zones will compete in this annual essay competition, a declaration that reflects Prof Ifediora’s firm commitment to inspiring youths and medical undergraduates across the Nigerian nation.

LAMS is designed to identify, inspire, and reward medical students who show literary dexterity. Its next edition, which will be concluded before November 2021, will be in combination with TASNEC, and will be sponsored solely by the OCI Foundation, for all medical schools in Nigeria. In addition to cash awards, the OCI Foundation will be providing branded medical scrub outfits and stethoscopes for the top performers in the competition, with automatic membership to the OCI Foundation offered to the top 3 as well.

The OCI Foundation’s decision to support the Nigerian medical students via the LAMS Initiative was an easy one, given that the Foundation’s Founder, Assoc Prof Chris Ifediora, was very active in NiMSA activities in his undergraduate days. He was also an alumnus of the SE Zone of NiMSA, having been a prominent member of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Medical Students Association (NAUMSA).

As a medical undergraduate, Dr Ifediora, who was nicknamed “the Scribe” due to his literary prowess, served as the Secretary-General of the Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations, FAMSA (the body of all African medical students) in 2001. Before then, at the NiMSA General Assembly hosted by the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (Nigeria), he contested for, and lost narrowly in a very keenly contest election for the Director of the NiMSA Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME). He remained active in NiMSA, featuring prominently in the associations national activities across all regions of Nigeria between 1999 and 2002. He was also an invited delegate to the General Assembly of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) in Taipei, Taiwan (2001), but, for reasons beyond his control, he failed to attend, despite obtaining the required visa.

Dr Ifediora also served as the Secretary Generals of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Medical Students Association (NAUMSA) and the ROTARACT Club of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (ROTA-NAUTH), among other positions. He was a recipient of the inaugural “Most Academically Outstanding Medical Student Award”, offered by the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Medical Student’s Association (NAUMSA).

His exposures to a balanced mix of academics and politics helped him hone his literary skills, which has guided him to achieve excellence in his careers to date as a medical practitioner, researcher and academic. Those skills were also vital in his sojourn through institutions in the United Kingdom (University of Liverpool), the United States of America (Harvard Medical School) and Australia (Griffith University).

These underlie his firm convictions that developing literary skills among doctors can unlock huge potentials that significantly complements medical practice, and the LAMS Initiative is his way of inspiring our upcoming doctors in this regard.

For the records, the OCI (Onyebuchi Chris Ifediora) Foundation is an international (Nigerian-Australian) non-profit, charity organisation established with the aim of breaking down barriers to the attainment of excellence among Nigerians through Education, Health and Empowerment/Charity Activities. The LAMS Initiative is a component of the Foundation’s Educational project, which has 5 other scholarship schemes under it. These scholarships can be found HERE.

Even though only the Eight Medical Students’ Associations under the SE Zone of NiMSA will be benefiting from this LAMS Initiative for now, the OCI Foundation is open to the possibility of expanding the program across the entire Six NiMSA zones in Nigeria.