The Resilience of Ovey Friday: Overcoming Adversity in Nigeria

Fri Apr 17 2026 11:23:20 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

At just 19, Ovey Friday's journey from a young boy tortured for witchcraft to a budding university student in Nigeria highlights the challenges faced by people with disabilities and the determination required to pursue education.

Ovey Friday, a 19-year-old from Nasarawa, Nigeria, was tortured by his stepmother, resulting in the amputation of his left hand and damage to his right. Despite societal prejudice and obstacles in accessing education, he overcame challenges, including biometric verification issues, to become the first in his family to attend university. His story is emblematic of the struggles facing many Nigerians with disabilities as they navigate systemic barriers in pursuit of education.

At the age of 13, Ovey Friday was accused of witchcraft by his stepmother and taken to a traditional shrine in the central Nigerian state of Nasarawa, where he was tortured. By the time a neighbour alerted police and he was taken to hospital, the damage was irreversible.

The herbalist brought charcoal, put something on my hands, tied my hands [along] with my leg, put pepper there inside the charcoal, then cover[ed] me with a bedsheet, recalls Friday, now aged 19. Doctors were forced to sedate him and operate on him. Friday woke up to find his left hand amputated, while the fingers on his right hand were either amputated or permanently scarred.

I cried and I cried, Friday tells the BBC. In the years that followed, people stared at him on the streets or taunted him. I wish they knew me, like, when I was born, he says.

Alongside his grief was a steely determination to keep going. Yet his academic ambitions were nearly interrupted two years ago when he tried to sit Nigeria's university entrance examination.

The system's biometric fingerprint process could not accommodate someone like him, as it could not capture his scarred thumbprint or the prints of the other two scarred fingers. Thankfully he got lucky as one of his guardians, along with disability rights campaigners, pushed officials to accept his toe print as verification of his ID.

Friday is now studying English and literary studies at a university in Nasarawa, a state which borders the capital, Abuja. He is the first in his family to enrol at university. Not everyone has someone to push for them, he says. Some people will just stop trying, Friday says.

His story resonates beyond his personal journey, highlighting the systemic obstacles faced by individuals with disabilities in Nigeria. More than 35 million Nigerians, roughly 15% of the population, live with some form of disability. Despite recent legislative advancements aimed at protecting the rights of disabled individuals in the country, including waived examination fees and dedicated services, advocates stress that real change is gradually evolving.

As he settles into university life, Friday is determined to prove that individuals with disabilities can succeed if they are given opportunities and support.