By Abubakar Imam
I have found myself extremely busy in recent times. But I must confess that I can never be too busy to find time to celebrate a distinguished daughter of Ilorin, seasoned medical practitioner and exemplary patriot, Nimat Bola Idris, who marks her 57th birthday today, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. I am more delighted that this beautiful blessing to Ilorin attains the age of 57 in this blessed month of Ramadan.
The birthday anniversary of this outstanding medic was brought to my attention earlier this morning by a close friend of hers and Matron of the Western Zone of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Hajiya Fatimat Toyin Shuaib. Hajiya Shuaib, a woman who loves Ilorin in an uncommon way, not only apprised me of the birthday of this unassuming lady but also demanded from yours sincerely that the birthday of her friend, sister and classmate should not go unmarked by me and other compatriots.
I concur with Hajiya Shuaib to do this piece because of the uncommon patriotism of the birthday girl and an “identical twin sister” of my sister, Prof. Saudat Salah Abdulbaqi. I am also motivated by the undying love of Dr Idris for her father who died when she was less than six years of age.
In addition to the above, I am also propelled by her deliberate “Ilorinisation” of her medical practice through finding local solutions to common ailments. Though Ilorin has produced many female medical doctors since 1979 when Dr Zainab Funmilayo Ambali, a retired Permanent Secretary in Kwara State and widow of the second Grand Kadi of Kwara State, emerged as the community’s first female medical doctor, I do not know of any of our doctors who has published a work on the medicinal contents of our local foods. Dr Idris breasted the tape in 2023 with her unique “Ilorin Medicine”.
The book, which was “launched” by His Excellency, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, CON, has found its way into many bookshelves and kitchens within and beyond Ilorin. This is because of its value and rich contents.
I first met Dr Idris, who is the immediate past Director of Medical Services, Kwara State University, Malete, in 2021 or thereabout. We were introduced to each other by my brother and immediate deputy in the hierarchical structure of the IEDPU’s national secretariat, Dr Jimoh Ajadi.
Dr Ajadi, who is an Associate Professor and Head, Department of Geology and Mineral Sciences, Kwara State University, Malete, told yours truly that Dr Idris needed someone who could do a pamphlet that would encapsulate the life and times of her late father. Dr Jimoh said that he was convinced that I had the competence.
From.the very moment that I first met her, she comes to me as a woman in perpetual love with her father and her community as well as humanity at large. No wonder, she studied and has been practising medicine, which is a field that focuses on the wellbeing and survival of humanity.
With my interactions with her so far, should I be asked to nominate a woman who loves her father passionately like no other, I will not hesitate to put forward the name of Dr Idris. The way she responds to anything that has to do with her daddy convinced me that she was and still her daddy’s girl.
I am happy that I was able to complete the work as scheduled. Her expression of satisfaction in the context and contents of the work makes us to remain perpetually in touch with each other till date. I am today a member of the Sanni Okin family by proxy as I no longer need introduction to her siblings.
Despite hailing from great backgrounds, Dr Idris remains very simple and extremely humble. Her dispositions often remind me of the popular saying that “empty barrels make the loudest sounds”
Dr Idris, who is the youngest of the children of her parents, was born on March 18,1968 to the popular Sanni Okin family of Ilorin.
Her father was the late statesman, community leader and first republic politician, Alhaji Sanni Olanrewaju Buraimo Okin, MFR, OFR, OBE. Alhaji Okin, who lived between 1910 and 1972, was the first Turaki of Ilorin and the only indigene of Ilorin who had the privilege of accompanying Shaykh Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa, the eight Emir of Ilorin, on his first and only journey to the United Kingdom in the early 1950s. The Emir was in London, along with a few of his colleagues from the defunct Northern Region, to witness the coronation of the immediate past Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II.
Alhaji Okin was a member of the Senate. He was also a member of the House of Representatives. He also represented Ilorin in the Northern Nigerian House of Assembly. He was also the last Provincial Commissioner for the defunct Kabba Province (now Kogi State). He held all these positions during the first republic.
Dr Idris’s mother, Hajiya Aishat Ayoka Okin, hailed from the famous Oniyangi family of Ilorin. The maternal grandfather of this birthday girl was Alhaji Memudu Oniyangi, the patriarch of the Oniyangi family, who was one of the founding fathers of Ilorin United School. Alhaji Memudu Oniyangi was “the King of Merchants”(Oba Olowo) in Ilorin during the long and eventful reign of Shaykh Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa. He died in 1950.
Notwithstanding her birth into greatness, Dr Idris has also embraced personal greatness through her brilliance, hardwork and exemplary conducts.The Yoruba summarises this by the saying “ki won bini ko to ki atun ara eni bi”
Young people, particularly from the Ilorin Emirate, have a lot to learn from Dr Idris’s determination to always excel and other personal qualities. Her career should be studied and emulated by boys and girls who desire greatness.
After recording an outstanding result in her West African School Certificate course, which she ran at the famous Queen Elizabeth School, Ilorin, in 1983, Dr Idris wanted to be a medical doctor. She was, however, admitted to read Zoology at the then Federal University of Technology (now Modibbo Adama University), Yola, Adamawa State. She accepted the offer of admission and gave her best to the programme. This culminated in her graduation with a First Class Honours degree in Zoology in 1990.
Following her graduation, Dr Idris was mobilised for the NYSC scheme in Katsina State. She offered the mandatory youth service programme in Dutsinma, a town that now host a federal University, in 1991.
Dr Idris, thereafter, enrolled at the College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin in 1992. And following her hardwork and success as a student pursuing MB;BS degree, she was inducted as a medical doctor in 1997.
Dr Idris was subsequently trained in the United Arab Emirates in Community Medicine. With the completion of the training, Dr Idris was awarded a Specialist/ Consultant Grade ‘A’ in Community Medicine Practice following a thorough evaluation and assessment of her competence in 2008.
In 2015, Dr Idris proceeded to the United States of America where she was further trained in Natural Medicine. She completed the programme and returned home in 2015.
This elegant stallion has worked in a number of places. She started her career at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin. She also served as a medical doctor at the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin. She left fascinating records of hardwork and humility in each of those places.
Dr Idris, thereafter, became one of the foundation staff of the Kwara State University, Malete, where she led a team of well-trained and motivated professionals who provided excellent health care services to staff and students as well as other members of the University community. Dr Idris is currently the Director, Senior Citizens Centre at the University, an institution otherwise known as the fastest growing State-Owned University in Nigeria.
This beautiful daughter of Ilorin is happily married. She is also blessed with promising leaders as children, one of whom is also a medical doctor.
As Dr Idris marks her 57th birthday today, I hope more of our girls would emulate her hard work, simplicity, humility, patriotism, erudition and professionalism for our community and indeed the nation to be peopled with the right calibre of women.
I wish Dr Idris many more years of sound health, happiness and career progression to enable her serve Allah and humanity beyond her expectations.
Happy birthday, my dear sister and friend.
Imam is National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
