In today’s Nigeria, as a student, it is important to learn a skill that will prepare you ahead so that after graduation, you will be able to set up y… - Saadatu Hassan Liman

With this kind of background, it is not difficult for me to further my education and develop my career with the help of my husband and my parents, but we should not take their understanding for granted. I must say that with an understanding family, what seems to be difficult is made manageable. Throughout my studentship, I was also blessed by giving birth to four children; during my undergraduate and master’s. I delivered the fifth during my PhD studies. I started work only after securing my PhD admission, so that gave me a leverage to be mostly at home for my children at their early growing periods.

Both my husband and myself came from well-educated families. And in both cases, we are not the eldest children and not the first to be educated, using the same cultural setting. That means we, the female children, are married off after our secondary school education, and we continue in our husband’s houses.

My children are my primary responsibility, but at certain times, and secondarily, a mother needs extra hands, even if she is not engaged in formal work. Whenever I am not at home, I make sure that somebody reliable is there to take care of the children. That notwithstanding, I ensure that I minimise my outings to the barest minimum, to look after my home. Therefore, for the most part of the time they spend at home, I am with them. Remember, they also attended Islamiyyah and non-Islamiyyah schools every day. Alhamdulillah, they are all graduates and married, except the last one.