Over the years, certain professions were regarded as being the exclusive preserve of men. But, not anymore. FAITH AJAYI takes a look at intelligent and hard-working women who rose to the pinnacle in male-dominated fields
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist, who became the first woman and first African to serve as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. She was appointed the seventh Director-General of the WTO in March 2021, and will stay in the office until the expiration of her tenure on August 31, 2025.
Prior to that, she served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister twice from 2003-2006, and 2011-2015. Shortly after, she was appointed as the Foreign Minister in 2006, making her the first woman to hold both positions.
In 2012, Okonjo-Iweala contested the presidency of the World Bank Group, making her the first woman and African to do so.
In the course of her illustrious career, Okonjo-Iweala has served as a development economist, and Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank Group for two tenures; and later as Managing Director of Operations between 2007 and 2011. In that position, she was responsible for managing a $81bn operational portfolio spread across Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.
The highly committed and dedicated woman has also held leadership and advisory offices, and has seats on several boards, including being the Chair of the Board of Gavi.
She also served as Senior Advisor at Lazard, and sat on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc.
She has received several national and international awards and honourary degrees from over 20 institutions
Among her numerous achievements, she has featured on several prestigious lists, including the People’s Choice Award by ThisDay Newspaper (2020), Transparency International’s Eight Female Anti-Corruption Fighters Who Inspire (2019), 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), Top Three Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), Top 10 Most Influential Women in Africa (Forbes, 2011), Top 100 Women in the World (The UK Guardian, 2011,among others.
She has also been listed among 73 ‘brilliant’ business influencers in the world by Condé Nast International.
Okonjo-Iweala is an author with several publications to her name. She is married to a neurosurgeon, Ikemba Iweala, and their marriage is blessed with four children, and many grandchildren.
Mayen Adetiba
Mayen Adetiba is Nigeria’s first female civil engineer, and also the first female to be elected to the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. She was elected President of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria, and was Vice-President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers on different occasions.
Unlike most women of her time who did not consider engineering to be a career that females could pursue, Adetiba went on to study Civil Engineering at the Colombia School of Engineering in New York, USA, after which, she went further to obtain a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, specialising in Structural Engineering, from Cornell University, New York, in 1976.
Upon returning to Nigeria after her studies, she worked with various firms and assisted in executing several notable projects within the country. Some of those projects include Ibadan Brewery which was at that time, the second largest in Africa; Akwa-Ibom State Governors Lodge, Akwa Ibom State E-Library, the Ibeno Shore Protection, the IDSL (NNPC) Computer Centre/Offices, Benin; and Akwa-Ibom State Liaison Office in Abuja.
Aside from being a skilled engineer, she also has vast knowledge when it comes to design. Adetiba designed the Shepherdhill Baptist Church, Obanikoro, Lagos. The structural masterpiece only has two columns supporting the steel roof structures, and a capacity for 5,000 worshippers.
Adetiba is the Chartered Secretary-General of the Association of Professional Women Engineers in Nigeria, and has held different offices ranging from Social Secretary of the Nigerian Student Union of New York State; Member, Board of Directors, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited; President of the Ibeno Women’s Forum, a forum that seeks to empower women in the 27 coastal Ibeno villages that stretch from Cross River to Rivers states, among others.
In November 1999, at the fifth convocation of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, she was conferred the Fellowship of the institution for her ‘immeasurable contributions to the establishment, growth, and development of academic excellence in Nigeria’.
Adetiba is not only an engineer, but also had stints in other professions, such as journalism and acting. She was a part of the original cast of The Village Headmaster. This was even as she modelled products for some of the topmost advertising agencies in Nigeria at the time, and acted in Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest in 1969.
After many years of an illustrious career, Adetiba continues to inspire generations of young women, through the Mayen Adetiba Foundation for Girls in STEM. She is married to Dele Adetiba, and they have three children, including the popular filmmaker, Kemi Adetiba.
Owowoh Oluchukwu
Owowoh Oluchukwu is the first Nigerian female officer to graduate from the prestigious Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom, on April 12, 2024, at the age of 24.
Owowoh began at career at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna State in 2018. While there, she distinguished herself right from the second year when she was appointed a Cadet Lance Corporal. In her fourth year, she was made a Cadet Sergeant, and in her fifth year, she assumed the role of Company Senior Under Officer Charlie.
She went on to finish the academics wing of the commissioning course with first-class Honours in Biological Sciences.
She made history as the first female to assume the position of CSUO in the academy.
Speaking on her achievement, Owowoh said, “It is a profound honour to be the first Nigerian female officer to be commissioned from the esteemed Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. This achievement is not mine alone, but a testament to the unwavering support of my family, mentors, instructors, and countless individuals who believed in me every step of the way. As I look ahead to the future, I am committed to representing Nigeria with pride, and to making a positive difference in the world.”
Kafayat Sanni
Sanni was the first female fighter pilot in the 55-year-old history of the Nigerian Air Force; a feat she achieved in October 2019.
Upon enlisting in the Nigerian Air Force, she started her training at 401 Aviation School, Nigerian Airforce Base, Kaduna. It was noted that because of her excellent performance, she was selected to further her training at the Aviation Leadership Programme in the United States of America for 18 months. Upon completion of the programme, she received extra training in English in Texas; and advanced vocational training in Colombia; all in the US.
During her course, she was trained in operating a combat helicopter for 14 months. Upon her return from her training, she became the first Nigerian female fighter jet pilot on October 15, 2019, and was given the ‘Wings’ Award by the Nigerian Air Force at a ceremony held at the NAF Headquarters in Abuja.
In an interview on October 19, 2019, she noted that she was able to achieve this because she believed she could. She said, “I did not think there was any reason for me not to be able to fly a jet. I believed I could achieve it, and I did.”
Aloma Mukhtar
Aloma Mukhtar broke a jinx by becoming the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria, after her appointment by former President Goodluck Jonathan on July 16, 2012. She was appointed the first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2009, making her the first female in that position.
The then President also conferred on her the national honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger.
Mukhtar was born on November 20, 1944, in Lagos. For her basic education, she attended Saint George’s Primary School in Zaria, Kaduna; and St. Bartholomew School.
She later relocated to Somerset, England, and in 1962, and went on to study Law at the Reading Technical College in Berkshire, England; and Gibson and Weldon College of Law, also in England.
In 1966, Mukhtar was later called to the English Bar in absentia, and the Nigerian Bar in 1967.
Upon her return to Nigeria, she worked as Pupil State Counsel at the Ministry of Justice in northern Nigeria, making her the first female attorney to serve across the 19 states of northern Nigeria.
She later worked as a legal counsel at the Ministry of Justice. During her time there, she was tapped by the late Justice Buba Ardo to serve as an interim magistrate in Maiduguri. This also made Makhtar the first woman to be appointed as a magistrate in the north. She occupied that office till 1973, when she served as a Chief Registrar at the Kano State Government judiciary.
Over the years, Mukhtar has occupied different offices around the country. These include her appointment as a judge of the Kano State High Court, which made her the third woman to serve as a judge in the history of Nigeria, the first woman to serve as a judge in the northern part of Nigeria, and the youngest judge in the country at the time, at the age of 32.
She was also the first female Justice of the Court of Appeal, first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. During her time in the Supreme Court, Mukhtar served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of The Gambia.
She has served as the Vice president of the National Association of Female Judges in Nigeria, and has been honoured for her contributions to gender parity and justice. In 2005, Mukhtar was inducted into the Nigerian Hall of Fame, before receiving the national honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger in 2012, as well as the Gold Merit Award for her contributions to the development of law in Kano State in 2016.
Virginia Etiaba
Although she only stayed in office as the Governor of Anambra State for three months, she remains the first female governor in Nigeria; and her admirers have said that her impact was widely felt in the short period she spent in office.
While in office as the governor, she flagged off several road projects, and signed the Anambra State Child Rights Bill into law. She also pushed for the propagation of Igbo language and culture, which earned her an alias— Mama Anambra.
Before her venture into politics, Etiaba was a school proprietress in Anambra but resigned to take up the office of the Deputy Governor of Anambra state in 2006.
In an interview she noted that her training as a teacher helped her in dispensing her duties in public service. She said, “I will want to be remembered as a public officer who served responsibly, compassionately and competently. My training and background as a teacher mandates me to show good examples at all times. So, I would want to pass on, directly or indirectly, a legacy of principled leadership, hard work, commitment to the needs of the people, respect for the feelings of the people, as well as the fear of God.”
Among her many challenges, overcoming cancer was one that she is forever grateful to God for. She was first diagnosed with colon cancer in Nigeria, and it was later confirmed at King’s College London Hospital, Denmark Hill, South East London.
While recounting the experience, she said, “It was cancer of the colon. The ailment had got to a serious stage that only immediate surgery was the answer. I was admitted into the private wing of King’s College Hospital, London, the next day where, after several months of chemotherapy sessions, I made it. Thanks to Almighty God”
Etiba was raised by her uncle— Chief Pius Ejimbe— in Kano State, where she completed her basic education before proceeding to partake in the teacher’s training programme in Gombe State. She holds a National Certificate of Education, Bachelor of Education, and a certificate in Information Technology.
After her education, she worked as a teacher and headmistress for 35 years in several parts of Anambra State, and eventually retired in 1991 to start the Bennet Etiaba Memorial Schools in the Nnewi area of the state. She is also a member of various organisations and associations.
She got married to the late Bennet Etiaba of Umudim Nnewi in 1998, and they lived happily together for 24 years, until Bennet passed away. She is blessed with six children.
Chinyere Kalu
Another trailblazer whose resilience and passion broke the stereotypes in Nigeria’s aviation industry is Chinyere Kalu, the country’s first commercial pilot. On December 28, 2011, she flew the plane that made her the first female pilot in Nigeria.
Kalu grew up with her mother after her parent’s separation but with the support of her extended family, she was able to achieve her dream of becoming a pilot.
Having a strong interest in the aviation industry, she initially wanted to become an air hostess, but later went for the ‘bigger fish’ of being a pilo. She attended the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology in Zaria, Kaduna, and was trained as a private and commercial pilot.
She also took other aviation and transport courses in the United Kingdom and the United States, and received her commercial aviation license from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology.
After getting her license, as a woman in a male-dominated industry, she faced her share of challenges and overcame them as the years went by.
In October 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed her the rector and chief instructor of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology; a position she held until February 2014.
Though there were challenges along the way, she did not allow them to affect her zeal to achieve greatness, as she went further to attend many training courses all over the world.
In an interview, she noted that she faced lots of discrimination and prejudice, saying that many men in the industry felt threatened by her success, and despite her qualifications, she had to stay for months without any work or salary at several times during her career.
In the course of her career, Kalu has won many awards, such as the African International Achievers’ Merit Award, and the Rare Gems Professional Achievements Award. She is also a member of many prestigious organisations, including the Nigerian Women Achievers Hall of Fame.
