Growing up
I am from Gbongan, Osun State. I am the only girl of my parents, I have four brothers but one is late now. Being the only girl, I had to attend a school that was not too far from home so they could monitor me. That was why I attended our Lady’s Girls High School, Modakeke, Ile-Ife. It was being manned by the Catholics at the time and the Reverend Sisters were mostly the ones teaching us. Whatever I have turned out to be today, that was my foundation. I had a Catholic education with strict and disciplined Reverend Sisters and it actually paid off.
Choice of career
I knew that I wanted to be a doctor. Though I never used to go to the hospital for treatment but my brothers were always being taken to the hospital at Ife by my mother, and sometimes when they go to the hospital despite leaving the house early in the morning they will come back in the evening. I used to wonder about what they normally do in the doctor’s room that will keep them till that time, leaving only me and my father at home. I decided to be a doctor too so that I could find out what they do to people in their consulting rooms. Also my uncle (my father’s brother) went to America to study Medicine when I was born, he was not around so he named me Aboaba.When he came back to the country, I told him I was going to be a doctor like him. Those were the two things that made me decide to be a medical doctor.
Why I specialised in Ophthalmology
It never crossed my mind that I would be an ophthalmologist or an eye specialist. It was as a result of what I can call divine guidance and destiny. By the time I was rounding off at the medical school, my passion was for paediatrics but that was knocked off because one would be looking for veins of newborn and will be looking for cut down. The second was Obstetrics & Gynaecology (O&G) but night duty and calls ruled it out so, I decided to settle for public health because I felt all I had to do there was to treat people in the community. But I ended up in ophthalmology by divine guidance. When Buhari/Idiagbon sacked all doctors, the Ministry of Health put up an advertisement that they wanted to recruit doctors so I went for the interview. I was married and had a baby at the time and when they asked me where I would like to work, I told them Lagos. I was asked if I wanted to work at LUTH and I said yes. That was how I left Orile Agege Health Center and started working at LUTH. At LUTH, I was given two options Accident and Emergency, Surgery and Ophthalmology. I opted for ophthalmology and I have never regretted it. Interestingly, I still came back to do public health. So, I am a public health ophthalmologist today.
Challenges faced
The challenges were many. When you are doing residency training, you need to be disciplined, committed, persevere and be persistent. In those days my mentor, Professor Ajesola Majekodunmi looked like a dragon because she wanted us to be the best, we had a lot of punishment, scolding and commendation when we passed our examinations. We surmounted all the problems. I had three events I am emotional about. The first was the loss of my daughter in 2000; she was the apple of the eye of the family because she was after three boys. She died six weeks after I gave birth to her. The second when was the death of my husband when I was about to become a professor. He worked hard, he supported me. I never did school runs. He will wake up early in the morning, take the children to school and tell me to face my career and study but he passed on December 14, 2011. As if that was not bad enough, my brother was assassinated on January 26, 2013. It took the grace of God to make me to be here today. We don’t know who did it, but we thank God for He has given us beauty for ashes and oil of joy for mourning.
Combining career with the home front
It was a lot of dedication. And also the fact that my husband was 100 per cent in support of my career. He tolerated my excesses. My children suffered because most of the time I was away from home but he was always there for them. I had to go abroad for a year twice. He was there for me like rock of Gibraltar. He did so much that I don’t think I could ever repay him even if he were to be alive. Right now, I am a grandmother, I give God all the glory, and He has been so faithful.
Most defining moment of my career
Getting my professorial chair was my most defining moment but at the time, I could not celebrate. I had worked hard for it, it was delayed but by the time it came through, it appeared like sand because of the demise of my husband. But I thank God because it was the pinnacle of my career which God allowed me to fulfil. Even when we got the award, there are five golden professors in LUTH, and I am one of them. We were elevated when the University of Lagos clocked 50 and that was why we were given the appellation of golden professors.
On the increase in cases of Glaucoma
It is not because they were not there before. There are two major reasons for that. There is a lot of awareness these days and we have more equipment for diagnosing. Also because blacks are more prone to developing glaucoma so my advice is that everyone should get their eyes checked especially parents and young adult from 30 and above. They should get their eyes checked by eye doctors or specialists not optometrist. Opticians are not medical doctors; they are doctors of glasses only not of human beings. They are to diagnose and refer to eye doctors and not to treat them.
Giving back to the society
About two years ago, I looked at some of my mentors who I admire like Professor Janet Modupe Makinde, a Professor of Pharmacology from University of Ibadan, Professor Ajesola Majekodunmi and Professor Olasurubomi Ogedengbe, the first woman president of West African College of Surgeon from Nigeria. Those three have given me a lot of inspirations and I learnt a lot from them. I looked at them and saw that they are people who hold God dearly and are also beautiful. So the idea came to me that I can have a foundation called BBB (Believe, Brain and Beauty) which I can use to mentor the younger ones to look at these women who have succeeded and believed in God. I will start off in 2018.
Clocking 60
I will be 60 on the 26th of November 2017. The secret of my youthful look is the grace of God which is above all else. The second factor is that it is in the genes, all my aunties aged graceful and the third factor is moderation. I believe so much in healthy living. I also use healthy products.
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