The 3 Most Influential Nigerian Women That Ever Lived

MARGARET EKPO Margaret Ekpo (1914-2006) was a Nigerian women's rights activist and social mobilizer who was a pioneering female politician in the country's First Republic and a leading member of a class of traditional Nigerian women activists, many of whom rallied women beyond notions of ethnic solidarity.   Margaret Ekpo was born in Creek Town, Cross River State, to the family of Okoroafor Obiasulor and Inyang Eyo Aniemewue. She married a doctor, John Udo Ekpo, in 1938. He was from the Ibibio ethnic group who are predominant in Akwa Ibom State, while she was of Igbo and Efik heritage. She later moved with her husband to Aba. In 1946, she had the opportunity to study abroad at what is now Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin Ireland. She earned a diploma in domestic science and on her return to Nigeria she established a Domestic Science and Sewing Institute in Aba.   Margaret Ekpo's first direct participation in political ideas and association was in 1945. Her husband was indignant with the colonial administrators treatment of indigenous Nigerian doctors but as a civil servant, he could not attend meetings to discuss the matter. Margaret Ekpo then attended meetings in place of her husband, the meetings were organized to discuss the discriminatory practices of the colonial administration in the city and to fight cultural and racial imbalance in administrative promotions.   Margaret Ekpo's awareness of growing movements for civil rights for women around the world prodded her into demanding the same for the women in her country and to fight the discriminatory and oppressive political and civil role colonialism played in the subjugation of women. She felt that women abroad including those in Britain, were already fighting for civil rights and had more voice in political and civil matters than their counterparts in Nigeria.   She later joined the decolonization-leading National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NGNC), as a platform to represent a marginalized group. In the 1950s, she also teamed up with Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti to protest killings at an Enugu coal mine; the victims were leaders protesting colonial practices at the mine. In 1953, Ekpo was nominated by the NCNC to the regional House of Chiefs, and in 1954 she established the Aba Township Women's Association.   As leader of the new market group, she was able to garner the trust of a large amount of women in the township and turn it into a political pressure group. By 1955, women in Aba had outnumbered men voters in a city wide election. She won a seat to the Eastern Regional House of Assembly in 1961, a position that allowed her to fight for issues affecting women at the time.  She was a Nigerian representative in Inter-Parliament-ary Union Conference in 1964; Nigeria representative, World Women’s International Domestic Federation Con-ference in 1963; Member of Parliament, Nigeria, 1960 –1966 and Women’s interest representative, Nigerian Constitutional Conference in 1960. She was also a delegate to the Nigerian Constitutional Conference 1959, 1957 and 1953, and a women’s inte-rest representative (Eastern House of Chiefs) 1954-1958, and a member (Eastern House of Chiefs), 1948-1966. In 2001, the Calabar airport was named after her. Her name graces the Ekpo Refectory at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and various other buildings and structures across the nation. Until her death, she was the Life Patron of the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS).Ekpo died at the age of 92 on September 21, 2006 at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Cross River State.
LADI DOSEI KWALI Ladi Dosei Kwali (1925-1983), the only Nigerian woman to appear on the Naira notes. Popularly known as Dr Ladi Kwali was born in 1925 in Kwali town in the present Federal Capital Territory, in the middlebelt part of Nigeria to Gbayi (gwari) parents.   She learned to make pottery as a child using the traditional method of coiling. She made large pots for use as water jars and cooking pots from coils of clay, beaten from the inside with a flat wooden paddle. They were decorated with incised geometric and stylised figurative patterns. Following the traditional African method, they were fired in a bonfire of dry vegetation Her pots were noted for their beauty of form and decoration. Several were acquired by the Traditional ruler of Abuja, in whose home they were seen by Michael Cardew in 1950.  In 1954, she joined Cardew's pottery training centre in Abuja, its only woman potter, where she learned to throw pots on the wheel. She made dishes, bowls and beakers with sgraffito decoration but also continued to produce pots using her traditional hand building and decorating techniques. Most of these were glazed and fired in a high-temperature kiln and therefore represent an interesting hybrid of traditional African with western studio pottery. Through Kwali's contact with Cardew, she and her work became known in Europe, Britain, America and many other countries of the world as she was hosted for international exhibitions to display her worls.   In the late 1950s and early 1960s, her work was shown to great acclaim in London at the Berkeley Galleries.She became Nigeria and one of Africa's best-known potter as she received so many national and international awards to her works.She was awarded a doctorate and was made MBE in 1963. Ladi's pottery was also displayed during Nigeria’s independence celebrations in 1960 as objects of National pride. Dr Ladi Kwali remained associated with the Abuja pottery works till she died. She gave lectures and demonstrations at home and abroad on her craft throughout her career. The Abuja Pottery was renamed the Ladi Kwali Pottery and a major street in Abuja is called Ladi Kwali Road. Her picture appears at the back of the Nigerian 20 Naira bill. By the time she died in 1983, Dr Ladi Kwali was Nigeria’s best known potter. She left a rich legacy of her work and a school of ‘students’ who picked up from where she left at the Abuja Pottery Training Centre.
FUNMILAYO RANSOME KUTI Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, (25 October 1900- 13 April 1978), born Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas to Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas and Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosolu, was a teacher, political campaigner, women's rights activist and traditional aristocrat. She served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation. She was also the first woman, in Nigeria, to drive a car. Ransome-Kuti's political activism led to her being described as the doyen of female rights in Nigeria, as well as to her being regarded as "The Mother of Africa." Early on, she was a very powerful force advocating for the Nigerian woman's right to vote. She was described in 1947, by the West African Pilot as the "Lioness of Lisabi" for her leadership of the women of the Egba clan that she belonged to on a campaign against their arbitrary taxation. That struggle led to the abdication of the Egba high king Oba Ademola II in 1949. Kuti was the mother of the activists Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a musician, Beko Ransome-Kuti, a doctor, and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, a doctor and a former health minister of Nigeria.[2] She was also grandmother to musicians Seun Kuti and Femi Kuti. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti campaigned for women's votes. She was for many years a member of the ruling National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons party, but was later expelled when she was not elected to a federal parliamentary seat. At the NCNC, she was the treasurer and subsequent president of the Western NCNC women's Association. After her suspension her political voice was diminished due to the direction of national politics, as both of the more powerful members of the opposition, Awolowo and Adegbenro, had support close by. However, she never truly ended her activism. In the 1950s, she was one of the few women elected to the house of chiefs. At the time, this was one of her homeland's most influential bodies. She founded the Egba or Abeokuta Women's Union along with Eniola Soyinka (her sister-in-law and the mother of the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka). This organisation is said to have once had a membership of 20,000 women. Among other things, Funmilayo Ransom Kuti organised workshops for illiterate market women. She continued to campaign against taxes and price controls. Throughout her career, she was known as an educator and activist. She and Elizabeth Adekogbe provided dynamic leadership for women's rights in the 1950s. She founded an organization for women in Abeokuta, with a membership tally of more than 20,000 individuals spanning both literate and illiterate women. Before her death, Funmilayo was One of the women elected to the native House of Chiefs, serving as an Oloye of the Yoruba people. She was a ranking member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. Treasurer and President Western Women Association of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. Leader of Abeokuta Women's Union Leader of Commoners Peoples Party Leader of Nigeria Women's Union and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize.