₦airaland Forum

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​Obinna sat behind the metal desk in his new office, staring blankly at the beige wall.
​He had done the "right thing." He hadn't run away in the middle of the night like a thief. He had handed in his notice, faced HR, and walked away from Lagos with his dignity intact.
​And what did it get him?
​Christabel hated him for it. She thought he was a fool for giving up his hard-earned cash for some misplaced sense of ethics, and she hadn't responded to a single one of his texts since the day he left.
​Now, sitting in the quiet dispensary of a university medical centre in Anambra, the full weight of his decision was crashing down on him.
​His take-home pay was ₦102,000.
​One hundred and two thousand Naira.
​He couldn't even process the math without feeling a knot form in his stomach. During his internship back in 2019, he earned ₦110,000. Before toxicity drove him out of Benin, he was earning ₦140,000. Lagos was paying him ₦170,000. How on earth had he regressed to ₦102,000 in 2023—with petrol prices skyrocketing and inflation hitting all-time highs? He had traded a fortune for absolute scraps.
​The only silver lining—if you could even call it that—was the workload. There were no aggressive targets, no demanding retail directors, and no twelve-hour shifts on his feet. His entire inventory consisted of basic, repetitive stock: Paracetamol, Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Fesolate, B-Complex, SP, ACTs, Diclofenac, and a tiny basket of basic injectables. Half his day was spent counting pills and staring at the door.
​How am I supposed to survive on this? he thought, resting his chin in his hand. How does an adult pharmacist live on 102k in this economy?
​"Excuse me, Pharmacist?"
​A soft voice pulled him sharply out of his spiral. A young female student was standing on the other side of the counter, holding a thin slip of paper from the consultation room.
​Obinna took a breath, adjusted his lab coat, and took the prescription from her hand.
​Rx
​Artemether 80mg IM stat
​ACT 80/480mg BD x 2/7
​Levofloxacin 500mg OD x 3/7
​Paracetamol 1g BD x 3/7
​Obinna blinked, reading the lines once, then twice. The financial frustration in his chest instantly shifted into clinical disbelief.
​An 80mg Artemether injection stat, immediately followed by a high-dose ACT double-strength combination for just two days? A broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone like Levofloxacin tossed in for three days without a culture? Paracetamol dosing cut down to twice daily?
​He looked up from the slip and looked at the student, who was waiting patiently, completely oblivious to what was written on the paper.
​Obinna sighed softly to himself. The pay was a joke, the inventory was bare-bones, and the prescribing habits in this place were going to test every single nerve he had left. But as he reached for the drug shelf, one thing was abundantly clear: he was definitely not in Lagos anymore.
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