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From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Dr Miracle Anyanwu is a Nigerian medical doctor based in the United States, who trained in Russia and then passed the three levels of American certification exams which qualified him to practice in the US. In 2001, he scored the third best result in Nigeria in the West Africa School Certificate Examination (WASCE) organized by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), emerging the candidate with the best result in Imo State.
In this interview, he talks about his humble beginning, practising in the US and explains why many Nigerian doctors who relocated to the US are not practicing medicine. He also talked about the two foundations he established – Miracle Anyanwu Foundation (MAF) and the Faith-Life Leadership Entrepreneurship (FLE), through which he is giving back to the society. In 2023, he gave scholarship to the candidate with the best result in the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Through various motivational speakers, Anyanwu and his wife, Grace Anyanwu, currently mentor youths on how to succeed in life.
Tell us about how you started life?
I was born into a poor family but by the grace of God I got a scholarship, during the General Sani Abacha regime, to study abroad. I was given the scholarship because I was the third best in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in 2001 and the highest scorer in the same examination in my state, Imo. The scholarship gave me the opportunity to study medicine in Russia for seven years. Before I travelled to Russia I told God that if He blessed me and made me become who I wanted to be, I would come back and be a blessing to others. From Russia I went to the United States where I became a medical doctor and a pastor. On September 13, 2023, I remembered the promise I made to God. I told my wife about it and that was how FLE came about. So the handwriting was on the wall 10 years ago. I didn’t know what to do with it until I asked God about it.
As a medical doctor, how has it been practising in the US and Nigeria?
I don’t practise in Nigeria but I have a purpose I need to fulfill in Nigeria. As a result of this, I have relinquished my position to some of my people in the US.
As a person who practices in the United States, and given that background, how would you characterise the medical practice in Nigeria?
It is quite clear there is a lot of brain drain in Nigeria when it comes to medical practice. I think in the US and other advanced countries professionals are respected highly and are better funded but in Nigeria I think it is not the same.
The funny thing about japa is that when you go to the United States as a medical doctor you don’t practise right away. Most Nigerian doctors who go there do not practise anymore. They do other things to survive because the US will not regard their certificates. If you come to the US you have to write three levels of examinations which are very difficult and if you’re someone who has left the shores of Nigeria to the US, to practice as a medical doctor, the chances of passing the exams are very slim. I will say japa is not the problem but passing the exams. About 90 percent of Nigerians who are doctors, who travel outside do not practice anymore.
You were introduced as having obtained the third best result in Nigeria in WASSCE. Please talk about this.
Yes, that is true. I was the third best in Nigeria and first in Imo State. I went to Government College, Owerri, and I was the Senior Prefect. It was a massive feat for me then as a poor kid.
We also learnt you gave a scholarship to the best JAMB student in Imo State. Tell us more about it.
For everything that happens in life, there is always something that triggers it. When I heard about the achievement of that young man, it reminded me of my family background. Despite what he went through he still wanted to be somebody in life. Although it’s not the very first time I had given a scholarship in my community, that one I did was the very first that was known in Imo State. He was the best in Southeast, so I felt I should do something for him. It was also a way of encouraging him and those who are doing well academically, especially now that people erroneously think that education is a scam. I wanted to let him know that what he was doing was not only appreciated by the family but the entire world. It was a way of motivating him. We paid his tuition fees. He is now in FUTO and doing well and I’m happy he’s still one of the best there.
Shed light on the skill acquisition programme of your foundation.
FLE Global is all about supporting youths to acquire skills and we don’t make noise about it. A lot of students have attended conferences without achieving anything. As a person, I do not like conferences. I feel that conferences are just about talking and people go home afterwards. However, we have a festival coming up, which will be different from the normal conferences. Through it, we will impact the youths and give them the best seed in life. We mentor the youths and that’s what distinguishes FLE from other organisations in the world. By next year we plan to go into skills acquisition. The reason is that Nigerian youths are blessed with so many talents. The only problem they have is that they don’t know how to start, particularly those that do not have financial backing from their families. Many people do not know that I was homeless in the United States. I had hoped for an uncle but he threw me away from his house. Imagine a youth who has a big dream, his dream might just crash if he has such a problem. Youths of today have dreams and ambition but they don’t have what it takes to grow – climb from 0 to 100. They need some gadgets like the conference we held last year, we had 100 enterprising and creative youths but they didn’t have direction; now we’re giving them direction. We selected 100 out of 2000. This year we’re hoping to take 500 youths out of the 5000 participants in the FLE festival. Next year we will open an office in Owerri where people would come and learn skills. In those days, the talk was about lawyers and doctors. But today, if you are a skilled mechanic, you can turn that into something else. We have great people like that today. They broke the code. This year our topic was breaking the code. We wanted to break the code for every young person. The young people of today are turning to Yahoo Yahoo because none of them have been told the truth. I told them my story, how I messed up but got revived.
What have been the achievements of FLE?
I believe that when a child is born he does not understand things. The foundation was one year old on November 22, 2025. God has been faithful; we have so many testimonies, FLE was formed by Divine initiative. When God first called me about this initiative, I was hesitant. The good thing about FLE is that it is faith-based. We have good vibrant youths in this country who can become president, governors and that is why we’re here to mentor them. We’re mentoring 500 from the 5000 participants.
How many youths have you been able to empower?
We don’t brag at all but I can tell you that many youths have benefitted, especially from my community. Last year, we gave scholarships to 73 primary and secondary school students, whereby we paid their school fees for the whole year.
In what other ways has the foundation helped the less privileged?
We go to places like hospitals and ask questions about indigent people who could not pay their hospital bills after being discharged and then pay the bills. We give succour to them, such as giving them food items. We gave some women money to start petty trading.
Do you have plans to take the FLE festival to another level?
Yes, we’re going to have it in the United States next year in Las Vegas. In Nigeria, FLE is already in seven states, with each state being supervised by a coordinator. I cannot end this without talking about one person: my wife, Grace. It’s one thing to have a dream and another to have somebody who supports you. She has been great; she is the backbone of this organisation and one who is truly on the scene.
