DR NEHEMIAH LUKA

Dr Nehemiah Luka is a passionate researcher with interests in community diagnosis, healthcare innovation, and sustainable development. He has over a decade of experience as a community volunteer, health educator, and advocate for humanity. He has developed a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the healthcare sector, and this has fueled his desire to create global solutions to local problems in Nigeria by leveraging technology. Dr. Luka is also a dedicated volunteer who has served as an Outreach Doctor at COSROPIN, Outreach Volunteer at the Nigerian Medical Students Association (NiMSA), Event Photographer at Youth Enlightenment Sentinel, Outreach Volunteer at the Christian Medical and Dental Association, and Outreach Volunteer at the Bingham University Medical Students Association (BhUMSA). Dr Luka is a highly accomplished and passionate individual who is committed to making a difference in the world and is a role model for young people and an inspiration to his colleagues.

“Leave the World A Better Place Than I Found It”

Q: Tell us a few things about you! Your background, your childhood and early beginnings! 

I have always been an innovator at heart, always finding a way to solve problems around me in ways nobody has either bothered to or had the capability of looking at before. I have just concluded my Medical Internship with the Federal Medical Centre Abuja and with a strong background in community diagnosis, healthcare innovation and sustainable development, I have participated in Hackathons and won one where my team of international innovators came up with a solution to address the Climate Change issues in the Western Ghats Region of India.

It galvanised my decade of experience as a community volunteer, health educator, researcher and advocate. I have developed a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the healthcare sector and this has fueled my passion to create global solutions to our local problems in Nigeria.

All these haven't been without challenges, because about 10 years ago, just when the insurgency in North Eastern Nigeria was becoming rife, I had to leave my hometown along with everyone else and my family had to be scattered across cities in Nigeria in order to escape death threats at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency. Rather than discourage me, it has made me realise that I have the potential to do so much, wherever I find myself and I believe I can flourish and give back to the society, like a transplanted acorn, growing to become a giant oak.

Q: What are some of the key challenges in your society currently?

Poor leadership, weak governance structures, lack of performance management systems and misaligned incentives, weak infrastructure like dilapidated facilities, inadequate equipment/technologies and inefficient supply chains, severe shortages in the number, skills mix, and distribution of human resources across key sectors, lack of data and evidence-based decision making that hamper efficient allocation of artificially scarce resources.

Q: Share with us some of the hurdles that you had to overcome in your life so far? How did you handle them? 

Aside the insurgency I ran away from, I come from a polygamous family rife with drama. I had faced a lot of emotional challenges trying to find a place to fit it, to no avail — I suffered from self-doubt, an inferiority complex, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts were a few things I overcame when I found my calling in providing solutions to local problems at the grassroots. I found a higher purpose to live, love and laugh, not just for myself but for the greater good, and to make sure I do my best to leave the world a better place than I found it.

Q: Why is the role of a mentor important for you? 

Amidst my life drama, I was often secluded and found no use for a mentor. The older I got, however, I came across wonderful men and women who, despite my personal resistance, made a significant impact in my life. I realised so much more I could be and do with the right insight — I understood what it means to stand on the shoulders of giants and I have never looked back since then.

Q: Do you have a lesson that life has taught you and you would like to share? 

Everything happens in the present and that's where my focus needs to be. What's done is done and the best I can do about it is to learn. The future is yet to be and the best I can do is prepare for it. Life, however, is in the now and nobody will live it for me, but me.

Q: Name a project, a foundation or a person in your country that you think is doing great work in helping improve other people's lives! 

Amb. Odinaka Kingsley Obeta

Q: What are some of the challenges that women in your country face and what efforts are being made towards gender equality?

Child Marriage and Trafficking.

Legislation that is focused on empowering women through provision of grants and loans for educational and entrepreneurial endeavours.

Q: Share with us a motto you live by. 

Carpe Diem

Q: If you had all the money needed to launch the project of your dreams, can you describe what you would do? 

I would revolutionalise healthcare in Nigeria where all the Primary Healthcare Centres are upgraded with state-of-the-art and top-notch global standard facilities and equipment.

Data management will be secure with an indigenous Data Centre that is combined with a powerful Machine Language System which individualises healthcare. This system will be fed with an algorithm built from genomic data obtained and primed indigenously.

Q: Anything else that you may wish to add?

Live and let live.