Nigerian Coder Writes Programs on Paper, Now Builds AI

A young boy in Jos, Nigeria, once wrote computer code on paper because he couldn't afford a working laptop. Today, Goshit Rotkhinen Gideon builds artificial intelligence systems that help healthcare providers care for patients across Africa.

Goshit's journey started at age five with a family desktop computer. While other kids just played games, he clicked through every program he could find, teaching himself Microsoft Word, Excel, and Paint just to see what the machine could do.

In secondary school, he learned Visual Basic programming and dreamed of building systems like Jarvis from Iron Man. When it came time to choose a university major, he picked computer science at the University of Jos since Nigeria didn't offer robotics engineering.

Then his computer broke. His father bought him programming textbooks, hoping to help, but Goshit had no way to run the code. So he did something remarkable: he wrote Java programs on paper, learning the logic and structure without ever seeing his code execute.

"I couldn't run the code, but I was learning," Goshit explains. He would read a chapter, then carefully write out each line of code by hand, building muscle memory for a skill he could only practice in his imagination.

When he finally got to university, he switched to Python and dove into free online courses on Coursera and YouTube. His undergraduate project used AI to generate sheet music by predicting musical note sequences.

His professor noticed his talent and invited him to help with medical research projects. They built systems to predict Lassa fever outbreaks using weather data, developed malaria tracking tools, and created AI to help hospitals manage blood supplies during cancer treatments.

Why This Inspires

Goshit's story shows how determination can overcome any obstacle. He didn't wait for perfect conditions or expensive equipment. When he lost access to a computer, he adapted. When he couldn't afford paid courses, he found free ones. When robotics engineering wasn't available in Nigeria, he chose the closest alternative and made it work.

His research directly addresses some of Africa's most pressing healthcare challenges, from infectious disease outbreaks to hospital resource management. After completing his national service, he joined an IT company specifically because his AI and healthcare background matched their mission to build tools for medical providers.

Today, Goshit builds AI systems that help healthcare workers interact with and manage patient information more effectively. The curious child who once explored a desktop computer in Jos now creates technology that supports doctors and nurses as they save lives across the continent.