Women Academics From Nigeria

"Africa is the only continent that uses foreign language as a medium of expression in institutions of learning despite the reports of many studies confirming the fact that the mother tongue is the best medium of instruction that facilitates better understanding of knowledge"

"I am particularly interested in what made her compare Orunmila with Socrates in her book."

"Reality contains matter and non-matter"

"We should pray that her work as an African philosopher should not be in vain. We should also pray that people will remember what she stood for all her life and all she taught about the importance of African languages and culture. She was an expert in Ifa literature and Yoruba culture."

"They disrupted our culture"

"Prof. Sophie Oluwole loved and celebrated Yoruba tradition and philosophy so much that she was nicknamed Mamalawo (female herbalist). Nigeria, the Yoruba race and all those who admire pristine traditions will sorely miss her."

"Oke was the third Dean, Faculty of Dentistry from Aug. 2007 to 2010. Her tenure was remarkable."

"The Community Oral Health Programmes in Idikan, Ibadan and Igbora, Ibarapa Local Government, Oyo State, to give health care services to people at the grassroots were founded under her leadership."

"It would be ridiculous to raise the question as to whether or not Ọ̀rúnmìlà was religious. He was the leader of a religious cult which established a school structured like Plato's Academy, in which various themes and subjects, including religion, science, morality, mathematics, the social sciences, etc., were taught."

"She has a glittering career at UI as a teacher, researcher and administrator, serving on many committees and boards."

"Dental therapists and hygienists could increase the oral health workforce if we allow them expanded role. They can be entrusted to work in rural areas to meet the oral health needs of the population using the basic package of oral health."

"I know that the issues of quackery and perharps the possibility of them going beyond bounds. It is just a suggestion. It may be the time to reappraise our position on task shifting and act accordingly."

"In Africa, you share what you have. Our sense of hospitality is communal. It will be improper for me to have such an important visitor without letting her also have a sense of the environment."

"A versatile scholar and change agent, a fellow of Ashoka, Innovator for the Public, Oke rose through the rank and became a Professor on Oct.1, 2002."

"While the affluent will lose their teeth, particularly the first molar to decay, the rural ones will probably lose the same teeth or the front teeth to gum disease."

"Essentially because our own diets do not contain much sugar, therefore, loss of tooth as a result of tooth decay appears to be less than those in the industrialised countries."

"Our experience at Idikan Primary Oral Health Centre shows that it has been impactful. When we started out, awareness on oral health was very poor, but it has improved significantly."

"If we can’t meet the need of our people through the regular face to face mode, then we should use the Open Distance Learning, ODL."

"Look at Christianity and Islam. They have the Bible and the Koran. The books have ensured the continuity and spread of the religions – but, perhaps more important, the culture and tradition of the nations where the faiths originated from. Now, where is our own book on Orunmila? It is a question that should worry all rational Yoruba and African people, indeed."

"In the past, core sciences such as physics were regarded as male domains where women were expected to be seen but not heard. People used to think that when you get into these subjects, the characteristics that are most worthily accepted for women including passivity, emotionality, intuition and receptivity would no longer be possessed by that woman."

"Education drives growth and development and it must be at the centre for any nation to make advancement."

"Idikan was a test location for community healthcare delivery. The government should replicate this in other parts of Nigeria. It has been shown that delivering primary health oral health care in the community is possible."

"My childhood curiosity is the key to my remarkable achievements and my passion for science."

"I became a laureate of the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science because of my significant contributions to the understanding of the daily variation of ion current in the upper atmosphere, which may further our understanding of climate change. The award placed Nigeria on the world map of honours in science. Okeke speaking on the impact of her work"

"I believe that women should be sponsored to participate in STEM workshops, conferences, seminars and exhibitions. Gender mainstreaming scientific activities must be encouraged. Okeke speaking on the marginalisation of women in STEM"

"Women should be encouraged to fully participate in the development of STEM, and take key positions in science matters in government as it will ensure the implementation of strategies for improving the participation of women in the development of science."

"As a little girl, I was fascinated by the sky; why it appears white at times and blue at other times. I wondered why airplanes could fly and found my vocation when I learned physics could answer my questions.""

""When I started, there used to be only two ladies in the Physics department. But while I was the head, I was instrumental to the employment of three other female staff. While I was the Dean, my priority was employing women who are qualified in the faculty, in Mathematics, Physics, Geology, Chemistry, Statistics and Computer Science. Now we are many women in the faculty of Physical Sciences.”"

"My future dream and aspiration remain that the gender gap in STEM is abridged. Okeke speaking on her future aspirations for women in STEM"

"It is important to acknowledge that science is the key to the growth and development of a nation."

"I met my husband when I came back from Britain. One of my old teachers at Yaba Higher College saw me and was very happy I was back from the UK. I was not married. The teacher said he was going to introduce me to whom he considered as “the most famous bachelor in town”. He did and it was Ayo Ogunsheye – he was then a teacher and Assistant Secretary of Nigeria Union of Teachers. I attended a seminar and we (my husband and I) met. The day we met, it was like I met an old friend. It was fantastic. We started talking as if we had always known each other. He was wonderful. When we met later, I read his papers and critiqued them. It was fantastic. We loved each other when we were together but unfortunately, he died suddenly about 40 years ago. Since his death, God has continued to support me."

"No, I didn’t remarry. Before he died, I had retired from the university and was in Abeokuta as Chairman of Ogun State Teaching Service Commission and was in charge of all the primary and secondary schools in the state."

"Lead as a model, by example. Leading women scientists must develop a leadership style that will be highly prized."

"While preparations were being made for my surgery, I kept praying. Surprisingly, the surgeons came two days before the surgery to examine me and check if my pulse had increased as it was very low prior to that time. I was sleeping when they came. They woke me up. When they tested me, they saw that my pulse had gone up to 80 and the surgeons shouted in awe.They said they did not believe my pulse would improve that much. In fact, the surgeons said they had to return my money and everything. They returned my money and never performed the operation again. I am still alive till today – I have been going from strength to strength. God has been so kind and wonderful in my life."

"“I have so many postgraduate female students and many of them have gotten PhDs through my guidance, counselling and encouragement. But if I don’t let them come near me, they will be scared… If it’s possible, get women to teach women. ‘Seeing is believing’. They will eventually see that it is practical and that this is a subject that can be dabbled into and not fearing it because ‘people say…’”"

"They said Africans could not think,” Oluwole told the Punch newspaper, “that we were not thinkers, that we were primitive. I felt challenged and said I was going to find out if truly we could not think. I wanted to prove them wrong"

"People confronted me with a series of questions. They would ask me:"Do you think you can make it on this seat". Okeke speaking on the challenges she faced as the first female dean."

"Because I was a government scholar, I felt like working for the government, but at the civil service, they told me they had no room for candidates that finished with university degree as teachers. So, I went to work for the Anglican Mission. I taught at Anglican Girls’ Secondary School, now St. Margaret’s School, Ilesha, and St. Anne’s School, Ibadan. I lectured at Nigerian College of Science and Technology, and the University of Ibadan, where I also served in the University Library.I became a Reader; Professor; Acting Director, Institute of Librarianship; Head of Department of Library Studies; and Dean of Education. I have carried out and supervised many academic researches. I have more than 50 publications."

"I started a secondary school. That secondary school is still in existence till today. After that, I got married. I had spent two or three years in the school at that time. Then, my husband got an appointment at the University of Ibadan. I moved there with him. At Ibadan, I joined the university as the Map Librarian."

"Yes, it is true. There is no doubt about it because I made the first professorship and I sat on the Senate for the appointment of subsequent professors. The first two professors came from Ibadan and I was the first female professor in Nigeria in any discipline at all. I got it in Library Studies."

"I taught myself Latin to qualify for the entrance exam. I got credit in Latin after the one-year study and I was able to take the entrance exams and I got government’s scholarship to study Geography at Cambridge University in 1949."

"I was a foundation student of University College Ibadan, from where I got a scholarship to Cambridge University as the first Nigerian female student."

"I obtained BSc and MSc degrees in Geography from Cambridge, before attending Simmons College in America, for a master’s degree in Library Science."

"I became a professor in 1973 when the university librarian started a library school in UI and they asked me to come and talk about how to organise maps. After talking about that, they said they would like me to move over and start a library because then we were taking the promotion exams of the UK and (they) wanted us to establish an academic programme. So, I went to Boston, United States, and did a master’s programme in librarianship and then came back and started the Department of Library Studies in Ibadan. I started the first programme except postgraduate and master’s degree programmes in Ibadan."

"When I finished at Yaba Higher College, one of my teachers had recommended me to take the entrance examination to Cambridge University, London. I took the entrance exam to read Geography at Cambridge but I had a problem because I did not do Latin in secondary school."

"My father was a missionary teacher, first in Benin, and it was at the same time he became a civil servant."

"I have a baptismal certificate signed by the mission. The date of my birth was in that baptismal certificate."

"I went to primary school in the Cameroons – British Cameroon Tutorial – because my father, who was a chief clerk, was transferred there. From there, I went and took entrance examination to Queen’s College, Lagos. I finished from Queen’s College before proceeding to Yaba Higher College for my Teaching Diploma. Yaba Higher College was the only one around in 1945, training doctors, engineers, and education officers, etc."

"This is probably the first time any of us would be gathering to witness the launch of a book by a 95-year old. It is an event we all will remember for a long time."

"More or less, I taught myself, and that was what happened with many of the first teachers in the university. I started a postgraduate programme from University of London (master’s programme) and I supervised 11 PhD holders and so many master’s degree candidates for several years before I retired."