Women Authors From Nigeria

"Ideas come from a lot of sources, experiences of friends, colleagues, neighbors, self and even strangers. However, my greatest source of gathering ideas is from listening to people talk about themselves, or about others, especially at public gatherings, weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals and the market place. A lot of ideas are also gathered at home among family members. The secret is to be a good listener, not talker."

"Hard work runs through my blood. It does not kill, but laziness does. If I were to write about myself I would have hundreds of titles, maybe a title for every page."

"I would say that life demands that we do not give up, no matter how hard it looks. I have lived by the simple code contained in almost all religions, believe in God and do good works. (Remember God does not leave anybody behind)."

"The hope that somewhere, somehow, someone may have benefitted from my ideas makes me feel I have made my little contribution to humanity. In addition to that, the national and international recognition is simply great"

"If you want to be a good writer, write what you deeply feel you should write, not what you feel the audience will like."

"When I read a book, I look out for the message the author is trying to pass across to the reader. Does the work contain wisdom? Have I learnt anything from it? I also look out for entertainment. Have I been sufficiently entertained?"

"I am saddened by the fact that most women, especially in my part of the country, are trained from childhood to regard themselves as intellectually weak and incapable of attaining the highest peak in intellectual development."

"Education opens doors and gives an individual option in life."

"It is well to dream... as long as we live, we shall continue to dream. But it is also important to remember that like babies dreams are conceived but not all dreams are born alive. Some are aborted. Others are stillborn."

"But, why are we commercializing religion and brainwashing the congregation? I will become a Woman of God very soon and use my prophetic abilities and bible story knowledge to apply wisdom to your lives. Prison always make all inmates spiritual…right"

"That prison is a big newsroom, but Nigerian prisons need reform. I met ex-Biafrans and Niger Delta agitators in the prison"

"Today I made my debut as an actress. I will be acting in different films IJN. Nollywood is not an easy job. I want to really commend all the actors, actresses, extras, set designers, directors, and producers. It is HARD HARD WORK. I worked on a movie today with Director @toyin_abraham. She is dynamic”"

"Madam Governor Lifestyle: Yes, I carry guns around Ibadan. There are 5 of them and I owned them legally in the US"

"Why are most of my Facebook fans in Nigeria men? Could it be the women are jealous and intimidated?"

"Stop dating people not interested in your personal development. This life is beyond sex, bone straight wigs, iPhone 13, Domino pizza, Coldstone, and KFC. Find a partner who is stress-free, willing to invest in you. Never been married but I see many of y’all divorced so soon."

"My statuses are designed to read the Nigerian mind and mentality. I want to fix this country and being a politician is not the only way to do it."

"Selection of adequate and efficient methods of financing, in addition to organisational delivery structure for health services, is essential, if a country is set to achieve its national objective of providing health for all."

"As salt is the taste to food so as a healthy communication is the taste to a loving and happy marriage."

"Feminism is a laudable theory. I like how it raises our awareness of the discrimination against women, and I sanction the equality of men and women, girl and boy that it advocates."

"Writing in Nigeria is not a job, because it never pays."

"I am a reader, as well as a writer. I read whenever I have the opportunity to do so, and as often as I can. My slogan for reading is, ‘’read a book a week.’’ You see, no matter how small the book you pick every week is, you will be sure to cover a lot of ground in reading by the end of a year."

"My library is next door to my home office for easy access, and it is arranged in an order of priority."

"I have no immediate plan to read a new book because I am seriously engaged in writing someone else’s story."

"Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien was the book I read last. The book reflects a world moving toward a certain direction, powered by both good and evil. It is a story of an entire universe in serious conflict and impending danger. The story says, this is also your world and you are not alone in it. It is just that we may not be conscious of the presence of the “others.”"

"I already met one of my favourite authors, Prof. Chinua Achebe in December of 1986. I had no question to ask him, I simply listened to his advice, when I narrated to him an incident that required me to take a decision. “Zaynab,’’ he said, ‘’ don’t let anybody tell you what to do."

"Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiongo and Nawal el Saadawi are some of my favourite authors. There are quite a number of Western authors, too numerous to mention here. I, however, identify with these three great African writers, because they have deep understanding of human psychology and pay attention to details. They accept that human beings are what they are, and behave according to the circumstances they find themselves in; no judgement."

"I do not have a special time, or place for reading or writing. Whenever and wherever I feel the urge to write, I write, using my small note book to capture passing ideas from within me, and scenes from the outside."

"Writing is my key to self expression. It has been my life line. Not only have I found satisfaction, I have been able to grow intellectually and emotionally through the art of writing. The hope that someone, somewhere, and somehow may benefit from my work makes me feel I have made some contribution to humanity. This feeling is simply great!"

"The character of Ezeulu, the chief priest in Arrow of God, by Chinua Achebe is one of my favourite characters."

"I cannot, now, remember any particular book that had triggered the ‘muse’ in me, but I can remember some of my best novels; Arrow of God, by Chinua Achebe, The River Between, by Ngugi wa Thiongo and Woman at Point Zero, by Nawal el Saadawi."

"In the mid-eighties, I was “discovered” by Prof. Stuart Brown, a Briton, and an English lecturer at the Bayero University, Kano. He had come across an excerpt of a story I was attempting to write. He was highly impressed by what he had read and quickly assured me that I was a writer in the making. Not only did he encourage me to write, he exposed my work to the international literary scene, and made it possible for the first edition of “The Stillborn” to be published by Longman Harlow U.K."

"When I read a book, I look out for the message the author is trying to pass across to the reader. Does the work contain wisdom? Have I learnt anything from it? I also look out for entertainment. Have I been sufficiently entertained? I believe strongly that apart from imparting knowledge to the reader, a writer should entertain the reader, because reading should be a joyous experience."

"I should mention also that besides all these, I was born into a long line of artists from my maternal side, musicians, dancers, drummers and story tellers. My major genre is prose fiction, (the novel), followed by short stories."

"Fiction writing, for me, is also triggered by the drama of life I witness on daily basis. I find human nature an interesting study. Human relationships, especially romantic ones, are intriguing and highly fascinating."

"My inability to express myself well in spoken words. Perhaps this too may have been part of my training, not to be outspoken. I find spoken words unreliable, because once the words are out in the open, it is impossible to retrieve and edit them. I, therefore, discovered early in life, that writing is my best medium of self expression and a valuable tool of communication. This started with letter writing and graduated into fiction writing. In my days, letter writing was a beautiful form of communication. Courtship was elegantly done by the exchange of letters."

"The general attitude of our society towards the female, commonly regarded as the “weaker” sex. I am saddened by the fact that most women, especially in my part of the country, are trained from childhood to regard themselves as intellectually weak and incapable of attaining the highest peak in intellectual development."

"My stories are triggered by drama of life."

"She knew education is the master key to opportunities for a better life. Education opens doors and gives an individual option in life."

"". I chose to maintain our integrity and retain our credibility.""

"There are Challenges everywhere you must have Tenacity; you must have the strength of character not to cheat."

"We will not stop until every Nigerian girl-child has found their voice and found their pocket."

"Financial services are the lifeblood of an economy, enabling households and businesses alike to save, invest, and protect themselves against risk."

"Success in financial inclusion entails reaching these users with products that can significantly improve financial lives."

"We should criticise ourselves, but we should criticize to build. We should see a problem and be angry about it and innovate and seek to find the solution to the problem because we know why we want to do it. Because we know that this country must work."

"I want my nation to work, I want to be able to tell my children this is why I say you must live in Nigeria and nowhere else."

"The Nigerian woman is smart, beautiful, fashionable, driven, purposeful and has the capacity to take on the world without fear, that is not a tool you leave at home when you are building leadership"

"For a country that needs help, women are key to the success of Nigeria."

""In life, you decide on those things that are important to you,""

""I said to myself I could do this, and I could do it right""

"I come from a place where there are opportunities staring you in the eye, but it's looking for the people who have the heart and the courage to do it and do it right."