Kehinde Monsurat Agboola

By Abubakar Hashim, Freetown

A Nigerian Medical Student, Kehinde Monsurat Agboola, has proved her worth and that of Nigeria, with a groundbreaking record in this year’s Medical Student graduation ceremony at the University of Sierra Leone, Freetown. She had 11 best awards in a row, never achieved in the history of the West African country.
While the Award and Swearing Ceremony took place on 9th April 2021, she graduated on 13th April 2021.

Kehinde Monsurat Agboola, left, and her school mates

She clinched the best graduating student prizes in the faculty of clinical sciences, physiology,  micro biology, pathological sciences,  surgery, internal medicine, over all award in surgery. Moreover, she got the Willoughby Award with the best candidacy prize , best in over all proficiency and recipient of Adonis About Trust Fund.

Kehinde Monsurat Agboola receiving her graduation certificate from then Minister of Health, Dr Alfa Wurie.

The 11 awards, no doubt, have promoted Nigeria’s image in a profession Nigeria initiated and promoted in the 1980s by starting a medical school with Thomas Adesanya Ige Grillo, the first professor of Anatomy in Nigeria, as the pioneer. In other words, he was, from 1988-1992, the principal, College of Medicine, University of Sierra Leone.

Professor Thomas Adesanya Ige Grillo, a Nigerian, was the pioneer head of the College of medicine, University of Sierra Leone.

Kehinde Monsurat Agboola is the daughter of Alhaji Ade Agboola, a successful Nigerian business entrepreneur in Sierra Leone. He is the Chief Executive Officer, Young Ade Enterprises, representing Stova Firm Nig Limited. He is into imports, exports and international transportation. He is also into General Merchandise, cosmetics, stationary supplies and he is a distributor for Swiss air freshener in Sierra Leone. What is more, he is a distributor for leather sunshine shoe dye in Sierra Leone

Kehinde Monsurat Agboola’s Background

Born a twin on 8 March 1996 in Freetown , she attended Vinning day nursery and primary school, Molete Ibadan, Oyo State capital in Nigeria, between 1998 and 1999 for baby class.
Her father , Adeshina Musibau Agboola, took her to Nigeria in 1997 when NPRC overthrew the Government in Sierra Leone.
NPRC is National Provisional Ruling Council under the Military Government when President Maada Bio was number two.

Kehinde Monsurat Agboola

She attended George and Duke international college, Felele Ibadan, between 2007 to 2013 where she bagged many academic awards for the school.

Kehinde was an award winner also at her George and Duke international college, Felele Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

She traveled to Sierra Leone in 2013 after her SSCE exams and graduation. She successfully secured nine distinctions in her WASCE in 2013.

Her father, Agboola, told TheNEWS in Freetown:
“I convinced her to change her mind, I being a successful businessman but she said being a doctor is just a passion for her, not the making of the money as a businesswoman. She just wanted to be a Doctor. She successfully secured zoology at Unilag but she turned down the course because she wanted to do medicine and nothing more.
She bagged many awards from primary to secondary schools. A fervent Moslem, she hardly asked me for money to buy clothes or other social needs only for books.”

He added:
“I took her from Nigeria to Sierra Leone in 2013 and I later secured UK Visa for her and her twin sister and myself to continue her study in UK for her favourite course of medicine and surgery. Fortunately we found a favourable school at King’s College London but tuition only was 25,000 pounds sterling and I had to secure school for her twin sister also, going to around 45,000 to 50,000 pounds sterling- just a year tuition fees! I could not afford it. So we had to return to Sierra Leone and apply for University of Sierra Leone (college of medicine and surgery). She and kehinde were graciously admitted into pre- medicine.

“A group of doctors from Switzerland offered to pay her school fees in her last year (final year). And a sum of 13,000,000 Leones (1,300 dollars) was paid by them, based on Kehinde’s good performance during her electives at Serabu catholic mission hospital in Bo, the second largest city after Freetown.”

She will do her housemanship for a year and later promoted to medical officer. She can then proceed to specialize anywhere in the world.

-Abubakar Hashim is TheNEWS West African Bureau Chief. He is based in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

More photos below:

Her certificate