Abiola Odejide Quotes

I started in 1965 as astudent and that was nice, it was enjoyable, the facilities were okay and we enjoyed the attention of our lecturers, you know, we had very small classes and we interacted with them, they kept note of us, they knew what we were doing. I mean there was no lecturer who didn’t know who and who were in the groups. And I graduated in 1968 with a BA in English at that time, 2nd Class Upper Division, the only one in the class that year.

For many years we have agitated for adequate representation at all tiers of government. The figures are depressing. In 2011, only 9 women senators were representing 54 million women in Nigeria; the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan appointed women to 33 per cent of cabinet positions, up from 10 per cent in President Obasanjo’s government. Now, under the current government, women’s representation has gone down further and both verbal pronouncements and the body language of our leaders indicate a lessening of the importance of the critical roles of women to the growth and health of our country.

I never wavered for one minute about whether I was in the right position or not, because right from when I was young, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher, but I didn’t know that I would be a university teacher. The people that inspired me at that time were the young ladies that came from the UCI, University College, Ibadan then on vacation job in my school in Yejide Girls Grammar School. You know, they came to teach us during the long vacation, this was in the 60s. And, I was so impressed with the way they carried themselves, the way they taught us. Some of our teachers were early graduates of UCI, so I just knew that was what I wanted to do and I knew I was going to teach English.

As DVC academic, I chaired over 25 committees and I didn’t have any major issue. So, I think it’s a question of one’s personality, one’s management style and as I said, I have been in university for quite some time. So, I have paid my dues.

I was dealing with the entire community with a wider forum; I think people liked the way I went about things.

I think it’s also important to show that it doesn’t have to be a male terrain completely, if there are competent women, we should give them positions on merit. But don’t look down on somebody and say, she is a woman, she can’t do it or he’s a man, he can’t do it. That would be a wrong attitude.

Of course, I faced opposition. The first time I ran (for the office), I lost by a few votes because I ran against a man. During the campaign, because I had to go round the faculties and talk to individuals, people asked me who would look after my home if I became the DVC and were in top management.

I was ready for retirement. I loved the job, the students and liked interacting with them, though they may have said other things. I loved challenging them to be their best. Before retirement came, I was mentally prepared for it. I had also managed my resources carefully so that it would not be a major shock financially.

We should aim to become strategic and effective within those roles and thus raise the profiles of women as did Nigeria’s first crop of western female educated activists like Margaret Ekpo, Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti, Wuraola Esan, and grassroots mobiliser , Sambo Sawaba.

I am happy that some of my former students are also professors now.

Discipline was a major thing in our home, especially from my mum; she just didn’t take any nonsense. She was a loving person but liked people to be punctual, do whatever was assigned to them on time and without excuses. I think that must have rubbed off on my siblings and me.

I found it so absorbing, I love reading, it came easy to me.

Well, becoming a professor, yes. Because if you joined the academic staff in the university, you’ll be looking forward to becoming a professor but the Deputy Vice-Chancellor thing, it wasn’t on my mind at all.

There is the notion that women are not supposed to be in the public sphere. Basically, they are supposed to be in the private space, looking after their children, being in the kitchen and so on. So, the whole idea is that women are not supposed to be in the limelight; they are to be seen and not to be heard.