Frankly speaking, as my benefactor, who was paying my school fees, I saw him as my father. He was like a father all through the time I was having my … - Uche Azikiwe

Any nation that realizes that women constitutes the other leg, you will see the impact, the country will grow and develop, it is my area sociology of education and gender studies; It has been proven that without women contributing, if you still believe in patriarchy, you are going nowhere.

I met him through his scholarship scheme. I danced in my hometown – Afikpo – during the electioneering campaigns of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons in the 60s; there were four of us. We were there to receive politicians coming to Afikpo for campaign, so we danced. In the end, he gave me a scholarship to go to secondary school and other things. My elder sister, who was the leader of the group, was given a job in Lagos. I don’t know what was done for the other two because there were four us. It was before the war, so the war disrupted my education as it did to everybody in the East.

My father was a Sergeant-Major in Nigeria Police and I think around that time, the rank was the highest position for Nigerians except if you had gone to secondary school. My father did not complete his primary school education, so when he joined the police force, the highest position he could be promoted to was Sergeant-Major. I grew up in the barracks and to know my father as a big man being the Sergeant-Major in charge of the whole barracks. Nobody dared come near our house. Other families were living in one room each in the barracks but we had a complex like when we were at the police barracks along Ogui Road, Enugu.