Foreign
Why I can’t practise medicine in Nigeria again – Popular Canada-based physician, Dr Zo
Canadian-based Nigerian doctor, Arinze Onwumelu, aka Dr Zo, shares his experience as a medical practitioner abroad and the expectations for his colleagues at home.
What has your experience been like as a medical doctor in Canada?
I came to Canada as a finished product. I had put about 17 years into practice including the Surgical Residency in Ireland and the Family Medicine Residency in the UK. I left medical school almost 27 years ago and migrated to Ireland three years later.
To be honest, I have been fortunate since coming to Canada. I was lucky to have inherited a clinic and a pool of patients from my mentor, Dr Rick Zabrodski. The contract was for $1. I practically did not pay him a dime. The clinic is big now because we’ve expanded. And we are going to have probably about 10 doctors by the middle of next year.
The medical profession is quite different in Canada because the government and the people support you. People are extremely nice here compared to the UK and Europe. The health sector supports the medical doctors very well. When we were in the UK, it was as if the General Medical Council was against Nigerian doctors there.
What is your specialisation and how have you managed it?
My area of specialty is Family Medicine but I also worked in several Emergency Medicine Departments all over the world for 26 years. I had to give up the emergency room three years ago when I turned 50. I felt I was getting too old for the ER adrenaline rush.
I did my house job at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital and my youth service in Port Harcourt before moving to the Federal Medical Centre, Umuoji, where I worked for about one year before migrating to the Republic of Ireland. I spent about nine to 10 years in Ireland where I did a Higher Surgical Residency before moving to the UK to start a Family Medicine residency all over again.
In those days, it was not easy for black immigrants, especially in the surgical field. Family practice is what I do now. I look after hundreds of seniors and patients. I love it. It has really given me a renewed sense of purpose. The Dr Zo you see today is essentially a product of my time and cordial relationship with elderly people. They take me like their son and I have adopted them as my parents too. They are the best and nicest Caucasians to deal with. Believe me.
When did you relocate to Canada?
I came to Canada in November of 2015 from Scotland. The UK had this Brexit policy back then so we had Irish passports and we suddenly were required to get work visas to work in the UK. There was a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK at the time. At the same time, Canada was seeking doctors from the UK to work in Canada. So, it was a combination of push and pull factors that made us migrate to Canada. I signed my first contract to go to Canada without having even visited Canada. Believe me, it has been the best decision of my life. People were nice, and very welcoming from the airport to the immigration. They asked what I did, and I said ‘doctor’ and they asked what of my wife, and I answered ‘lawyer’. They were welcoming and saying come and stay in our country. Meanwhile, with your British passport or EU passport in the UK, the immigration officers would be looking at you like you stole your passport. The love in Canada is real.
What are your remarkable achievements as a doctor in Canada?
My achievements in the last couple of years are that I have mentored a lot of young doctors. In the next couple of years, I would say that I’ve trained over 70 doctors and they succeeded. That’s the best thing that has happened to me. And this gives me joy.
The second achievement is that, in the last seven years, I was introduced to elderly care because I took over a 35-year clinic, so I started looking after very old people and managing a lot of old people. I gave myself a target to push these old people to 100 years as far as I can. I’m doing everything possible to push them to 100 years. Sometimes, I succeed and sometimes, I narrowly miss it at 90. This has given me a sense of purpose lately. And the best and nicest Caucasians that you would ever do anything with are the elderly people.
I did my weight loss surgery essentially based on the advice I got from a 92-year-old woman. She was not up to five feet but she looked at me and told me ‘Dr Leonard, you have to lose weight. We want to see you around for a long time but with the way you’re going, it’s not gonna happen.’
Two months after the encounter with this lady, I had a Gastric Sleeve and right now, I have lost over 35kg within the last year alone. I look fit and I feel good. I always thank her for her advice anytime I visit her lodge.
You advised Nigerian ladies on Brazilian Butt Lift recently on social media. What prompted you to do that?
As I said, I did a surgical residency and family practice residency. Most of these people go outside of Canada to Turkey, Mexico, and Nigeria because they are cheap. You can get BBL for $2,000 in Nigeria. But, I will say a good number of them run into complications when they come back. They come back to me because they know I have surgical medicine experience and I treat a lot of them here.
I do say that if you look at the ladies with BBL on the outside, it looks good but it doesn’t feel natural. There are possible complications and most of them are infections. I know people from Canada who did BBL in Nigeria and they ran into serious troubles. Some nearly died from it.
I know people who developed infections and sepsis and it was hard for them to travel. Some others developed blood clots as a result. These are serious complications and I have managed them here in Canada.
Is there a difference in practising medicine in Nigeria and Canada?
It’s like night and day! When I left Nigeria 23 years ago, I made myself a promise to return to Nigeria after about 10 years and settle down in Nigeria. See what happens when you practice medicine abroad; I have worked here as a doctor for 23 years and we are trained to be transparent to our patients. There is no reason to lie. You tell them the diagnosis, everything is clear to them.
Unlike Nigeria, they won’t tell you the diagnosis, they won’t tell you the prognosis. It’s different. After 10 years, I built one house abroad and one in Nigeria, I was ready to go. But I realised I couldn’t practise in Nigeria anymore. The reason is that I will be considered ‘mugu’ or ‘maga’. I will tell you everything as it is abroad. If you do that in Nigeria, people won’t come back again.
That’s the mindset and the difference. In Canada, everything is evidence-based but in Nigeria, there are a lot of financial constraints as doctors are trying to manage occupations because they don’t have the money. Having said that, I trained at the University of Nigeria and I have to appreciate all my colleagues working there. It is not easy to work in Nigeria. I praise and encourage them, but at least, every doctor deserves to work a bit abroad. But there is a huge difference between the medical system in Nigeria and Canada.
What improvements would you like to see in the Nigerian health system?
Talking about government, the best health minister the Nigerian health system had was Olikoye Ransome-Kuti. He was my idol. He did a lot of things like primary healthcare, and vaccination. I think former president Buhari did well too but Nigeria as it is, if you ask me, I would recommend a private-government partnership to permanently sort out Nigeria’s health problems. It’s about time we partnered with a lot of people abroad. That’s the only thing I can say that Nigeria needs as soon as possible.
We have thousands of Nigerian specialists abroad who want to come home, including me. I feel like I owe Nigeria because if I look at how I trained, I want to give back. My last school fee was N59 in UNN in 1997. But when you think of giving back, there have to be facilities on the ground. People are doing it gradually, coming to Lagos to set up private hospitals. I will just say that the government should team up with the private sector to build the health system. If it can do that, doctors will start coming home to practise and before you know it, the medical system will be like that of India. I can guarantee you that because we are the ones with the brains. Unfortunately, our politicians don’t think in that direction and it is what it is. But I strongly believe that one day, things will get better in Nigeria.
What other things do you do aside from practising medicine?
If you go to my social media page, you will realise that I do travel, family, and service to humanity. I mentor a lot of people. Even these days because of social media, I’ve turned to a marriage counsellor. I mentor thousands of younger people in marriage because I love the marriage institution. I buy medical equipment and send it back home. I live like there is no tomorrow so I make everything matter. Most weekends, I travel with my wife to explore the world because my children are in universities. I love to spend time with my family. Most of the things I do now is that I advise young people because I also interact with old people.
Do Nigerians in Canada take medical checkups seriously?
To be honest with you, Nigerians are Nigerians. Even Nigerians here in Canada are still Nigerians. They don’t bother about healthcare that much but that’s what we do. We go around and preach to people. I talk to a lot of Nigerians in organisations to take their health seriously. The reason is that when you are in Canada, the health services have been paid for, so it’s free. We tell them why they are cheating themselves. Nigerians behave as if they only come to see you when they run into problems. Even a doctor had a COVID and he didn’t know he was diabetic. Nigerians are like that all over the world, but it takes a bit of education and awareness for us to get to what we desire.
What is your take on Japa syndrome?
With the way things are in the country, you cannot advise anyone with an opportunity to travel not to do it. Personally, I believe that every doctor in Nigeria should practise for a while abroad. There are things that they only read in textbooks and they have to experience it here because they are not available in Nigeria. It improves quality. For medical practitioners, and all professionals in other sectors, I don’t have a problem with that. For instance, I made plans to go back home and I keep changing my mind because things are getting worse in the country. So, are you going to blame the people looking for greener pastures to better their lives or the politicians who are mismanaging the resources? It is a no-brainer that anyone would support Japa syndrome because you want the people on the ground to survive. I look at my country now and I weep.
What challenges do Nigerian doctors face in Canada?
You must learn how things are done in the West. In my opinion, it’s a bit more difficult to get yourself into the system here in Canada compared to the UK. But, it’s more forgiven when you work here as a Nigerian doctor than in the UK. Medicine is a total package here. Even if you know the whole thing, there are still a lot of semantics. Remember that English is not our first language. You have to learn how to talk to patients. You must know things are done in the West.
How will you advise Nigerians who want to relocate to Canada?
I’m saying this as someone who has been in the West for 23 years. I’ve been to over 70 cities in the world. I have a lot of experience when it comes to travel. Calgary in Canada remains the best place for me. I’ve never seen people as nice as these people. So, I will say that if you are travelling to Canada, I do say it’s a land of milk and honey. It’s the best gift you can give to your kids. You know sometimes when you will come over, there will be a downgrade and saying I was this and that in Nigeria. Don’t look at it in that perspective. Look at it from the perspective of the future of your kids. The trajectory will change because you have given yourself a quality of life.
Source: PUNCH
A Nigerian-born Roman Catholic priest, Anthony Odiong, has been convicted by a jury in Texas, United States, for sexually assaulting women under his spiritual care, The Guardian reports.
Odiong, 57, was found guilty on one count of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault after a trial in Waco, Texas.
The jury, made up of eight women and four men, delivered its verdict after about two hours of deliberation on Friday.
The court heard testimony from two women who said Odiong used his role as a priest to manipulate and pressure them into sexual relationships.
He was accused of exploiting his position as a Catholic priest to pursue sexual relationships with women he was providing spiritual direction.
Odiong, who pleaded not guilty, could face life imprisonment on the first-degree charge when sentencing begins on Monday.
Prosecutors said the offences involved two women who testified in court that the priest abused his clerical authority during periods of emotional vulnerability.
One of the women, identified in court documents as Mary Doe, told the jury that Odiong began a sexual relationship with her while providing spiritual counselling during a difficult divorce.
She also testified that her son once walked in on her and Odiong during intercourse at her home.
Another woman, Jane Doe, testified that he pressured her into sexual acts under the guise of spiritual guidance.
The case followed a 2024 report by The Guardian, which first documented allegations of sexual misconduct and coercion against the priest during his ministry in Texas and Louisiana.
Prosecutors said that report prompted one of the victims to come forward to police with further allegations.
Investigators later gathered additional evidence, including DNA linked to a child fathered by Odiong during his time in Louisiana.
Odiong, a naturalised US citizen, was ordained in Nigeria in 1993 and later served in Catholic parishes in Texas and Louisiana.
Authorities said he was suspended from the ministry in 2019 following earlier allegations of misconduct.
His lawyers argued during the trial that the relationships were consensual, but prosecutors maintained that he abused his position of authority as a clergy member.
A United States-based 23 year old tech-developer, Tony Kabilan Okeke, led a five-man team of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Penn., U.S. alumni and students to develop Xploit, an automated cybersecurity testing tool for AI agents, an ambitious concept that addresses a growing problem in AI landscape.
Beside Tony Okeke who is the Team Lead, other members of the team are Kamdi Okeke, Kiitan Fawole, Dalu Okonkwo and Michael Moemeke.
Speaking to our reporter on the development, Tony said, “As more businesses deploy AI agents that can take actions and use tools on behalf of customers, these systems become potential security risks. Unlike simple AI assistants, agents have access to tools and can perform real actions – meaning a security vulnerability isn’t just a PR problem, it could have serious real-world consequences.”
3rd from right, Team lead, Tony, Kamdi, Dalu, flanked by UEV partners
The team envisioned a tool that could automatically test an AI agent for vulnerabilities – essentially playing the role of a digital attacker to identify weaknesses before real threats could exploit them. This was the outcome of their brainstorming on November 21, 2025, when Tony led the group to build and pitch Xploit in the “Start-Up In a Weekend” Hackathon hosted on November 21 – 23, 2025 in Philadelphia, by The Foundry & Velric, a Philadelphia-based founder-first community that act as a startup ecosystem catalyst.
Tony designed the system’s architecture and created the initial prototype of the user interface (UI). The UI concept was crucial: it needed to visually show how their automated attacker was thinking, strategizing, and attempting different approaches in real-time, all displayed through interactive graph showing the attack process as it unfolded.
Responsibilities were strategically divided amongst the team. Some members created sample AI agents to serve as “victims” for testing. Tony developed the core attacking system. One person refined the user interface, and others handled the technical infrastructure connecting all the pieces together.
The attacking system itself works like a strategic game player. It would first choose an attack strategy, then create a detailed plan, execute that plan step-by-step by sending messages to the target AI agent, and analyze the responses to determine whether to continue or try a different approach. Throughout this process, the web interface displayed everything happening in real-time, allowing users to watch the automated tester work.
The team then integrated everything — making the attacker communicate with the victim AI agent systems, ensuring the automated testing loop ran smoothly, and polishing the final product. They recorded their demo video and submitted their project before the 9 am deadline on November 23, 2025.
During the afternoon judging session, the team delivered their pitch, framing their project around a massive, unaddressed market shift, highlighting a critical market gap: while the explosion of AI agents in 2025 has seen enterprises deploy them to manage everything from infrastructure to sensitive tasks like financial analysis and customer support, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are left vulnerable because they cannot afford to test them for security flaws. Unlike tech giants, SMBs lack the resources for dedicated AI security teams. Xploit, automated cybersecurity tool, directly addresses this need, positioning itself within a booming continuous automated red-teaming market projected to skyrocket from $495 million in 2024 to $4.9 billion by 2032. Xploit democratizes AI safety, levels the playing field, allowing any business to automatically test and secure their AI agents before deployment.
The judges were impressed enough that they took an unusual step — they asked to see the team’s code and development history to verify the project had actually been built during the hackathon weekend. This verification was necessary because the judges found it hard to believe such a polished product could be created in just one weekend.
The team won the “new project track” award and $1,500 in prize money.
“What made the achievement particularly remarkable” according to Kamdi Okeke, “wasn’t just that we built it over a weekend — it was that, competing amongst a diverse group of 100+ of Philadelphia’s most driven creators, we built Xploit in less than a day of actual development time, transforming an abstract idea into a working, polished prototype through focused collaboration and strategic planning.”
Speaking further, Tony said, “The experience at yet another hackathon, UEV’s Venture Building Weekend hosted in Philadelphia, March 12 – 14, 2026, was a turning point for us. The mentorship and feedback we received from industry operators helped sharpen how we think about the problem and where our approach fits in the market.”
United Effects Ventures (UEV) is a Philadelphia-based pre-seed venture studio. Through its Venture Building Weekend, a competitive hackathon, focused on problem validation and go-to-market strategy, teams refined their ideas with guidance from experienced operators and investors. After a grueling 48-hour sprint, Xploit came tops, outperformed 15 other competing teams, earning a cash award and two advisory sessions with partners at UEV; and most importantly, industry experts validated Xploit’s focus on continuous red-teaming as a strong approach to discovering vulnerabilities in AI-powered products.
Mentors at the hackathon validated both the team’s identification of the problem – the growing security risks posed by AI agents operating autonomously in enterprise environment – and their approach of framing the product as continuous red-teaming platform, which could support an ongoing service model.
The accusation comes after US Central Command said its forces had on Monday attacked missile sites and boats in southern Iran that were trying to lay mines in the Gulf, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it fired at US aircraft trying to enter its airspace.
“The US terrorist army, continuing its illegal and unjustified actions since the ceasefire… has, in the past 48 hours, committed a gross violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.
It added that Tehran “will not leave any evil unanswered and will not hesitate to defend the Iranian nation,” without elaborating.
Tuesday’s statement came as a top Iranian delegation was in Qatar for talks as part of a “diplomatic process” aimed at ending the war with the United States, which broke out on February 28.
AFP
Iranian authorities held mass public weddings in Tehran for couples who signed up to a state-sponsored scheme declaring their readiness to sacrifice their lives in the war against the US and Israel.
The ceremonies conducted late on Monday involved hundreds of couples in several major squares in the capital, including more than 100 in the vast Imam Hossein square in central Tehran, according to reports in Iranian media.
They were broadcast on state TV in a bid to boost wartime morale, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening new military action against Iran amid a shaky ceasefire which halted the fighting that began on February 28.
Those involved had signed up, according to Iranian media, for the so-called “self-sacrifice” scheme (janfada in Persian) where people pledged to put their lives on the line in the war by, for example, forming human chains outside power stations.
Iranian authorities say millions of people, including top figures such as the speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and President Masoud Pezeshkian, have put their names forward.
Couples arrived at the Imam Hossein square in military jeeps with mounted machine guns and were married on a stage in a ceremony presided over by a cleric, AFP images showed.
The stage was festooned with balloons and with a giant image of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since being elevated to the position after the killing of his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war.
“Certainly, the country is at war, but young people also have the right to marry,” one young woman in a white Islamic bridal dress, who was not named, said beside her groom in footage published by the Mehr news agency.
A man in a dark suit, beside his bride-to-be, said they were happy the occasion marked the anniversary of the marriage of the Prophet Ali, revered by Shia Muslims, to Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed.
“We received their blessings. Furthermore, we came to offer our best wishes to the people in the streets,” he said.
Mehr said 110 couples had taken part in the Imam Hossein Square ceremony alone. The AFP images showed crowds of well-wishers clasping roses and watching on.
Since the start of the war, Iranian authorities have held, on a near-daily basis, major pro-government gatherings in a bid to highlight popular mobilisation amid the conflict.
AFP
The Nigerian community in the United States has been thrown into mourning following the sudden death of Eric Ezeokoli, a student of California State University, Long Beach.
Ezeokoli, who was born on October 6, 1960, reportedly died on Friday, April 11, 2026, at Saint Mary’s Hospital after a brief illness.
Until his death, he was studying Engineering at the university, also known as Long Beach State University. Sources disclosed that he had previously lived in San Jose before relocating to the Los Angeles area.
Tragically, at the time of his passing, Ezeokoli was said to be homeless and living in his car, with no fixed address.
The deceased was originally from Anambra State, although details about his exact hometown remain unclear. There are indications he may have hailed from Aguata, but this has not been officially confirmed.
Efforts are currently underway to locate his family members and relatives in Nigeria. Members of the Nigerian community and concerned individuals are appealing to anyone with useful information about Ezeokoli’s background or family to come forward.
A contact person, Paul Kizito Eze, has been designated to receive information that could help trace the deceased’s relatives.
The appeal has also been extended to people from Anambra State, particularly those familiar with communities in Aguata, to assist in identifying and notifying the family.
The situation has sparked renewed concern over the welfare of some Nigerians living abroad, especially those facing hardship and isolation.
Anyone with relevant information is urged to reach out urgently to assist in reconnecting the late Ezeokoli with his family for proper burial arrangements.
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