How ‘Showing Up’ Mantra Led to Okunjimi’s Emergence as UNILAG’s Clinical Sciences BGS

By Jacinta Emeka, Success Essien, Abdullahi Rahmat Abike, Ojiolu Akhere Joy, Afolabi Barakat Olamide, and Olusesi Fatimah Abosede

What does it feel like to be the best graduating student in a field where you once felt completely lost? 

For Zainab Okunjimi, the best graduating student of the faculty of Clinical Sciences,  the answer isn’t about some super-human intelligence; it’s about the memory of the great shock she felt moving from the main UNILAG campus to the intense clinical world of Idi-Araba. While her classmates might have seen a confident scholar, Zainab remembers a student who was just trying to keep her head above water.

“The beginning was far from glamorous,” she admits, thinking back to her first time seeing cadavers and dealing with anatomy topics that felt like a foreign language. “Everything did not really make sense at first because the concepts seemed very unique. It was my first exposure to so many things at once.” In those early days, she wasn’t thinking about being the best; she was just trying to survive the week.

In an environment as competitive as Medilag, where everyone is a “star” student, Zainab’s approach was surprisingly quiet. She didn’t have a big master plan to top the class. Instead, she had a simple mantra: just keep showing up. She realised that even if a concept felt impossible today, it didn’t mean it would stay that way forever.

“I was struggling, trust me,” she said honestly. “I just really wanted to survive and ensure that I was going to be a good doctor and not make mistakes.” This fear of making a mistake with a real person’s life pushed her to seek help. She started meeting with seniors to help her find her way through the angst of medical school. Slowly, her scores started rising, and that’s when she realised she could actually be one of the best in her smart and talented set.

One of the most interesting things about Okunjimi is that she didn’t let the white coat swallow her whole life. She was a campus influencer and even got involved in research, publishing a paper on “Psychosocial Distress and Spirituality” among elderly cancer patients. But even with all these roles, she made a radical choice; she refused to be stressed out all the time.

In a culture where students brag about staying up all night, Okunjimi protected her sleep like it was a sacred ritual. “I take my rest time very seriously. I take my sleep very, very, very, very seriously,” she said, laughing as she emphasises the four ‘verys’. For her, taking time out for movies, family calls, and hanging out with friends was the only way to call herself back and stay grounded.

This empathy for herself made her a better doctor for her patients. She recalled a specific time on the wards when she saw a patient get a cancer diagnosis. It was a heavy moment, full of financial and emotional turmoil. But she watched how kind the care was, and how it brought a small smile to a patient who had walked in crying.

“Seeing how care was given, how human and kind it was… reminded me why I became a doctor,” she said. It taught her that medicine isn’t about being a boss over patients; it’s about partnership. “The patient is the chief of their life, the director of their life,” she explained. She believes in respect, confidentiality, and never being judgmental.

The title of Best Graduating Student (BGS) actually caught her by surprise. It didn’t really sink in until the final MBBS results were released and people started calling her “BGS”. For her, the honours were a way to make her parents, mentors, and friends proud, but also a moment to be proud of herself for not giving up when things were blurry.

As she leaves UNILAG for the professional world, her message to those still struggling with Anatomy and Biochemistry is simple and reassuring. “Everything is going to be fine,” she said. “It’s okay to start with confusion. Growth is sure.” Her advice is just like how she lived her own journey: “Do your best today and tomorrow. Show up every day. Get help whenever you need it.”