BE INSPIRED I AM WOMAN SHEROS #IWD2016: Inspired by Glory Presents Nigeria’s First Women PART 1

Nigeria’s first women- a list of Nigeria’s female trailblazers…

On July 16, 2012, Justice Aloma Mukhtar made history by becoming the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria. She was also conferred with the National Award of GCON (the second highest honour in the land) by His Excellency. But Justice Mukhtar is a lady of many firsts. In January 1977, she was made a judge of the Kano High Court. Making her the third female judge in the history of Nigeria, the first female judge from the North and being 32 years of age, she was the youngest judge in the country.

 Professor Remi Sonaiya is the first woman in Nigeria to seek the highest seat in the land running as the Presidential flag bearer under the Kowa Party at the recently concluded 2015 Nigerian Presidential Elections.  She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in French from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) graduating with the best result in her faculty and also received a PhD in linguistics from Cornell University.  She became a professor of French Language and Applied Linguistics in 2001

Sandra Aguebor is Nigeria’s first lady mechanic. She studied mechanical engineering at the Auchi Polytechnic graduating in 1991 as the first Nigerian woman to be certified as an auto-mechanical engineer. Sandra opened her own garage in Lagos, established a solid customer base and began to bring other women into her profession. Today, she is the founder of Lady Mechanic Initiative which trains females mechanics. She also launched an After School Club Project, in partnership with the MacAthur Foundation aimed at grooming young female public school students in Lagos State for gainful employment.

Ambassador Adenike Ebun Oyagbola is the first woman to ever be appointed as a Federal Minister in the history of Nigeria under the regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. She was also a Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico

Blessing Liman is the first female military pilot of the Nigerian Air Force. On her achievement she has been quoted elsewhere as saying; “As a first female pilot I would want to make a mark that would encourage other females to join the military because I believe that all females have equal opportunity to exercise their rights in whatever they choose to..”

Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili (OFR): Prior to her ministerial appointment, Prof. Akunyili was Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria, where she made it her top priority to eradicate counterfeit drugs and unsafe food in Nigeria. Before her assumption of office in NAFDAC, fake and substandard foods and drugs were sold in Nigeria without any form of regulation.

She was a Senior Lecturer and Consultant Pharmacologist in the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu Campus, before she became the NAFDAC boss.  Professor Akunyili was also a Post-Doctorate Fellow of the University of London and a Fellow of the West African Post-Graduate College of Pharmacists. She gained international recognition and won hundreds of awards for her work in pharmacology, public health and human rights. She was appointed Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of Information and Communications until December 16, 2010.

Professor Adetoun Ogunseye is first female Professor In Nigeria. She attended Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos.  At the University of Ibadan (where she was the first female student), she received the prize for the best female graduating student and got a scholarship to proceed to Cambridge. She became a Professor of Library in 1973 and was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Nigeria Book Fair Trust in  2012..

Ibukun Abiodun Awosika: In 2015, First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc. announced the appointment of Mrs. Ibukun Abiodun Awosika as its new board chairperson. Making her the first woman to assume this position since the establishment of First Bank of Nigeria in 1894. Mrs Awosika began her entrepreneurship journey at age 25 when she resigned from Alibert Nigeria Ltd to start her own furniture manufacturing company; Quebees Ltd now known today as The Chair Centre Ltd. Ibukun Awosika sits at the board of several companies among which are Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Digital Jewels Ltd and Convention on Business Integrity. She is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ), as well as the Chairman of Intermac, the organisers of SmartCard Conference in Nigeria.