Jadesola Olayinka Akande
Jadesola Olayinka Akande was a lawyer, author and academic, she is regarded as Nigeria’s first female professor of Law. She was the Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University from 1989 to 1993. Read Jadesola Akande Biography here.
Quick Facts about Jadesola Olayinka Akande
Born: 15 November 1940, Ibadan
Died: 29 April 2008, Lagos
Occupation: Lawyer, Academician, Author
Education: University College London
Previous office: Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University (1989–1993)
Jadesola Akande Biography
No Favours Given, No Favours Taken!
I had a very good relationship with my siblings. We grew up in Ibadan. My mother had founded a school, People Girls’ School, which my elder sister and I attended. My mother was an educationist. She ensured there was no discrimination between my sister and I, on the one hand, and between the two of us and our two brothers, on the other. For instance, everyone participated in house chores. It was a rule in the house that we must never be late to school, whether we were the headmistress’s children or not. It was expected of us to always be among the first to arrive in school.
We had the responsibility, as the headmistress’s children, to set good examples. In order to achieve this, we woke up very early, prayed together as a family, and did our respective house chores. We had to finish on time and get ready for school. We lived far from school, a distance of about five to six kilometres from home. We used to walk to school with some other children going to the same school. It was simply lovely as we walked along, going through shortcuts, talking, playing, and increasing our pace so as not to be late.
My parents were comfortable by the standards of that time. We did not lack necessary things. They both had cars. My father, a lawyer, had the first type of Citroen imported to Nigeria then. Most times, I was excluded from housework, as I was quite sickly. My sister, the stronger one, did most of the housework. My younger brother was still too young at that time. We loved our dad from a distance. He was the terror of the house! Interestingly, however, he never beat any of us. He preferred to talk to us. He used to play the organ while we would sing along. My mother, on the other hand, was very quick with her hands. We thought mother was terrible and father was nice.
My mother was a fiery but generous woman. She was good at disciplining us, but she was also very caring. My father was a quiet person; he did not talk much, but very good at listening to us. In his quiet way, he followed our progress in life with keen interest. We grew up in an enlightened environment. Most of my aunts and uncles were educated. For us children, there was no room for laziness. One had to work hard. The norm then in my family was that no one could afford to fail. Everywhere one turned, one saw individuals who were successful. If one’s position was below the tenth position, then one would have a lot of explanations to give. We had cousins who were doing well. It would be unheard of that the headmistress’s children failed their exams. The environment at that time encouraged a willingness to succeed, even more than our parents.
I used to like and admire one Mrs. Olaopa. She was a hardworking and committed teacher in my mother’s school. She was pregnant then. She came to school throughout the period of her pregnancy; there was no excuse from her at all. She was always around. I was touched by her diligence. I was quite restless and naughty in school. Sometime in my primary six, I decided I did not want to read anymore; I was simply tired! Maybe, I had secretly thought no one would punish me if I were naughty; after all, I was the proprietress’s daughter. But my teacher punished me and reported me to my mum, who gave me double punishment. From then on, I realized that with my mum, it was, ‘no favours given, no favours taken’.
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Focused and Steady
I attended St. Anne’s School, Ibadan. It was a very memorable time for me while I was there. I was very good at English language, and my teacher, Miss Shepherd, encouraged me greatly. She used to love how I read. The music teacher also loved my singing. One memorable experience I had was with my Domestic Science teacher, Miss Jaiyesimi. I did not like Domestic Science, especially ironing clothes. One day, she asked me to iron her dress for her. I was angry, so I deliberately burnt her dress. I was sent out of the class, and for a whole term I was sent to the ‘white house’, the residence of the principal of the school, to stand there every morning. The Principal eventually had to intervene and saved me. Another incident was when I refused to eat beans. Apart from my not liking beans, the type cooked for us in school had weevils in them. Again, I was asked to go stand in front of the Principal’s office. The Principal intervened again by sending me home, and then requesting my parents to see her. After this visit, I went back to school and I noticed that the beans had become much better. She must have talked to them in the kitchen.
From St. Anne’s School, I went to England for my post-secondary
education. I did not want to stay in Nigeria after I had finished from St. Anne’s School. I had many friends schooling abroad and I looked forward to being there too. I was admitted to read History at the Nigerian College of Arts and Science, while my sister was at the University of Ibadan. My father opposed my desire to further my education abroad. He wanted me to read
Nursing. He believed that women’s education should be minimal. He said Law was for men. But my mum insisted. She had to pay for my first year in England. I went to school at Barnstaple, in Devon. I was the only black person in the school in my sixth form. The first day I got to the school, I nearly ran back. I was miserable and lonely; I missed home and my family so much. My mother’s brief visit on her way to Moscow did not really help much. I stayed with a white guardian, Mrs. Yates, who was very good to me.
Being the only black in the school, I became the butt of rude jokes and verbal cruelty. My classmates always wanted to see my tail – ‘blacks are supposed to be monkeys, remember?’ I lost weight and was generally miserable. However, gradually, things started to change for the better. I had a horrible English language teacher, Mr. Walters, who always had problems with my essays. He used to say I was not speaking English. Initially, I was very sad whenever I saw the low marks he awarded me. There was no essay I wrote that impressed him. So, one day I decided to go and see the head of the school with my essay. She read and agreed that Mr. Walter was probably racist. Things changed for the better from this point. I became close to some of my classmates and even at a point, went home to spend some time with one of them. However, the actual turning point when I ceased being ridiculed and began to receive praise and respect came in my second year of the sixth form.
I challenged myself to write the entrance examination to Oxford, which was open only to the third year sixth formers. Many of my classmates wondered what was the matter with me. Again, I became the object of jokes and sniggers from all. I wrote the exams, and when the results came out, only two persons passed – a third year sixth former and me. That was the turning point. Everybody wanted to know me. The euphoria of my resounding
success eased the remaining misery in me. With the result, I was to be admitted to Oxford University. But I was not because in the interview, I disclosed that I was still a second year sixth former. So I was told that I must start and finish my third year sixth form before I could be admitted to Oxford. I thanked them gallantly, and applied to the University College, London. Within me, I knew I was not going to proceed to the third year sixth form. I already had my ‘A’ level results. What is the use of going to waste a whole year waiting to be admitted? For me, there was nothing to look forward to in the third year sixth form.
At the University College, London, the interview lasted barely five minutes. The chairman told me that since my father was a lawyer and read Law in England, they had no problem with my coming in to read Law in the College. I was one of the few ladies in my set in the College. There was another Nigerian lady, Miss Tinu Adejumo, now Mrs. Oyekunle, in my class. We were quite close, and we shared our varied experiences together as friends while we were there and beyond. At the end of the Law course, I was
the only African who made a second class upper that year. My father got to know of my result before I did. He was very proud of being my father and he came all the way from Nigeria to the College to felicitate with me. My mother was very happy too but she was not too surprised at my feat. She would rather have been surprised if my result had been below expectations. This was another difference between my father and mother. One would have expected my mum to rush down to the school on hearing the news, but it was my father who did. Before this, he had admitted his misconception about the capability of women. My good result further confirmed to him how right his new stance on women was.
I was naïve as an adolescent. I did not think there was any difference between my brother and I. I never really saw myself as a girl or a boy – I just enjoyed being fully alive! At a time, I was tired of my long hair. So I walked into a barber’s shop and had it shaved clean! I did not see anything wrong with this. It did not bother me at all, but my mum was very angry and gave me a good beating. I also used to love sandals. I had a particular double-buckled sandal, which I loved so much. They eventually got bad and my mum could not afford another pair before the harvest/bazaar event at church. I was miserable. In my adolescent years I was a bit rebellious in nature. I was a bit demanding too. For instance, if I did not like to carry out a particular chore, I could do something ‘bad’ in order to express my feelings. My adolescent years were never boring. At Barnstaple, I used to visit Exeter where I had some fellow Nigerians who were schooling there. I also loved going out with the English boys to jazz nights. When I was twenty years old, I had made up my mind on two basic issues: the first was that I wanted to graduate and the second, I wanted to get married before I was twenty-three. I had not made up my mind on what
would follow these two major decisions of mine. They influenced my not waiting for an additional year to go to Oxford University, and instead, went to University College, London. I got my degree in Law when I was 23 years old and got married the same year.
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It’s a Small World!
After my graduation, I applied to the Postmaster General in England as an Administrative Officer. I got the job and worked in a post office for seven months. When I came back to Nigeria, I applied to the Western Region Public Service as an Administrative Officer. I was posted to the Ministry of Education. I then wrote an application to the Ministry of Justice as a state counsel. Then, there was much discrimination against women. For instance, married women in the workforce were put on contract, and if they became pregnant within the first year, they lost their jobs. Chief Simeon Adebo changed this practice in 1964. Perhaps, he realized that women could work twice as hard as men. However, when I applied to be a state counsel in Lagos, the late Hon. Judge Taslim Elias, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, rejected the application. He told me that four women were appointed into the ministry the year before and they all got pregnant the same time and went for the inevitable maternity leave. I was however not deterred. I applied to the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, as an assistant lecturer. Professor Gower, the then Dean of the Faculty, interviewed and appointed me. Three years later, Judge Taslim Elias became the Dean. The first day we met on the staircase in the College, I greeted him heartily, ‘Good morning, sir. This is a small world!’ While he was Dean, we had a very interesting time because I was always challenging him. He later became my mentor. He loved me and loved my husband even more.
When I started working at the University of Lagos, my goal was to become a professor. After I became a professor, I felt that God still had other purposes for me. In 1984, I told my boss, Judge Akinola Aguda, that I wanted to go on my sabbatical. This was when he told me that my assistance was urgently needed in setting up a Faculty of Law at the Lagos State University (LASU).
I asked him to give me some time to think about it. I discussed with my late husband and my late sister. They challenged me to go for it. So I spent my one-year sabbatical leave establishing a Faculty of Law at LASU. Mr. R.A. Adeola and Mr. Solanke assisted immensely with the initial planning. We had to start from the scratch. There were no staff buildings, so we were allocated one warehouse, which we had cleared, cleaned, and furnished. Then, we had to source for books. The great Taslim Elias gave us many
books. Judge Aguda offered to come and give lectures free. I was able to convince some of the younger Law lecturers at the University of Lagos and in the Ministry of Justice to move over to LASU. The first year of starting the Faculty was quite difficult. I went to the Late Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya and others for support, which they gladly gave. The late Sir Adetokunbo Ademola agreed to be the patron of the Faculty. This would involve meeting with the students of the Faculty, talking with them, and generally mentoring them. We asked some eminent ladies in the society to be mentors to the female Law students as well.
With a lot of hard work and dedication from the few members of staff, coupled with the grace of God, the LASU Faculty of Law got accreditation the following year from the Council of Legal Studies. That was a very good one for us. As the pioneer Dean of the Faculty, I worked extra hard to ensure that the Faculty came to stay. And it did. The Faculty led the Law School results with the only first class candidate. They have also maintained the code of conduct I set in place. I am not aware of any of the Faculty students participating in riots and cult activities. Their mode of dressing was black and white suits. They imbibed other ethics as well. The result of all these was that we had a deluge of applications from all over the country. We only admitted students on very high merits. I maintained these standards for several years till I left there. I have never experienced insecurity because of my sex. When I was a university lecturer, I was excessively confident of my ability. There was this staff meeting we had which Judge Taslim Elias presided over. He was giving out responsibilities to every member of staff. He asked me to be in charge of the Common Room, that was the cafeteria of the Faculty of Law. I told him I could not, that I was a lecturer and not a tea girl. One could have heard a pin drop. Nobody dared challenge the great Elias! I was not worried. He promptly agreed that the Faculty would employ a tea girl.
I also challenged him for promoting those I considered juniors over me. I wrote a petition against him to the Senate, and I was promoted. Judge Elias did not believe women could progress equally as men. Oh, we had clashes! There was a time he accused me of not being in my office, as he knocked twice on the door of my office and I was not there. I wrote back to say I always give my lectures and tutorials as scheduled and that the university employed me basically for these purposes. He told me I was rude. But somehow, we became very good friends. He advised me to go for my Master’s degree. I registered that day with him as my supervisor. I finished within a year. I later went for my PhD at the University College, London, with his support.
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Icing on the Cake
When the problem with Professor Olumide, the foundation Vice chancellor of Lagos State University, was on, I was approached by the late Dr. Simi Johnson and Mrs. Hariat Ade Balogun, the first Attorney-General of Lagos State, to be considered for the position of Vice Chancellor of LASU. I asked them to give me some time. Again, I consulted with my loved ones: my late husband, my parents, my late sister, and some of my close friends. But I was still reluctant and undecided. The mantle I was being asked to assume looked very heavy! However, what made me finally sum up courage to take up the offer was what my late husband said. He said, ‘You have been fighting for women’s rights all these years. Now is the time to put your theory into practice. If you reject it, you have no more voice to say that women are not given voice at higher quarters.’ Being a Vice Chancellor was a different kettle of fish for me. I told myself the position is transient, and that I was going to be firm and fair in anything I
would do. My problem with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), LASU Chapter, was that I did not allow any type of behaviour that was not fair to others. My problem with some of the students was that I wouldn’t want them to behave like ‘normal’ students – students who cheated during examinations, and who indulged in cultism. They didn’t take kindly to my tough stance. People resisted the changes I had set in motion. I realized that when one assumes a position of authority, and trouble starts, one is alone. When the students started their riot, I was on my own, except my driver and personal assistant, who stood by me.
There was a time I was locked up in my office by gun-totting students. I could not step out of the office because they were out there in huge number waiting to pounce on me. I was trapped in there with my personal assistant till about 2.00am when an officer with the Lagos State Police Command, Mrs. Gladys Dipeolu, effected my release through another avenue. There
was another time I was on the way to my office when my driver, Olufemi, sensed that something was uncanny. Maybe he had a sixth sense. Just before he got to the university gate, he quickly reversed the vehicle and headed off in the other direction, away from the school gate. That was when we saw the students. Some of them pursued us to almost Agbara Estate. But later in the day, I still came back to the school and addressed them. I thank God that not once was I rough handled by the students. Years later,
at a social function, I met one of the union leaders, who told me that I should understand that the students were all in the ‘aluta’ mood and that students would always be students. I just smiled and reserved my comments. That was not the end of the LASU experience. The Lagos State Government, under the headship of Sir Michael Otedola, raised a visitation panel to look into the LASU crisis. After two visitation panels, I was not only vindicated,
but was told I was owed some arrears. I was paid fully by the Ministry of Education. Mr. Ola Vincent, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria headed the second visitation panel.
I was Vice Chancellor of LASU for a term. The Lagos State Governor, Sir Michael Otedola, wanted me to serve another term, but I refused, insisting that others should be given a chance as well. Apart from this, one should leave when the ovation is loudest. I left as the Vice Chancellor of LASU on 31 March 1993. During the send-off party organized in my honour, I said that I had no regrets because I set out to achieve all that I had planned to
achieve. The highest point of my profession was when I became a professor. Being a Vice Chancellor was the icing on the cake. I never in my life thought that I would be a Vice Chancellor. I wanted to become a professor and to be known for my academic writings.
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Women are marginalized openly and indirectly. It is everywhere. One often hears derogatory remarks such as a man being asked to ‘stop crying like a woman’. At LASU, I made sure I empowered women. I enlisted all the women for study leave. I have always encouraged young women. I have so many publications that attest to this. I got this desire for fair play and equity from my late mother, Iyalode Wuraola Esan. She was very active in the Action Group political party. She contested three times but never won. The men would cajole, threaten and win over with money. There was a time my mother was beaten up. But she persevered. Eventually, she became a senator, the first under the Action Group in Nigeria. She also fought to become the Iyalode of Ibadan, which she became in 1975. She was the first educationist to be the Iyalode. Since then, we have had other enlightened women like Mrs. Akintola and Mrs. Wilson. She died in 1985. There is no doubt that she contributed a lot to who and what I am today. She instilled in me the desire to defend women’s rights.
Nigerian women politicians are still working in a very unfriendly environment. In my opinion, they are up to the task. They are facing the challenges head on, even though they are still going through a slow learning process, courtesy of the pervasive corruption in the country. I would have been in politics like my mother, but the military was holding sway then. Now, I am old! The society does not appreciate the old. There are younger women out there who can bring in their freshness and vitality to bear on a more humane politics. I am mentoring and supporting young women because I think women perform better in leadership positions. They have to work twice as hard to be appreciated at all. If they do less, their impact would not be felt and they would not be seen. I have helped many women in the academia. Some young ones in academic institutions are beneficiaries of my pension. I am presently about to set up the Iyalode Wuraola Esan Foundation, named after my late mother.
This foundation would be formally opened in October 2005 to mark the 20th anniversary of her death. The foundation’s office would be housed in the late Iyalode’s residence. I intend to use the Iyalode Wura Esan Foundation as a platform to encourage young female school leavers to appreciate their dignity, and to be enlightened about their rights. We have started collecting biographies of women. They would be trained and supervised for six months, after which some would be given micro credit. We intend to train twenty young women every six months.
Empowering Women
The Women, Law, and Development Centre, Nigeria, is a non-governmental organization where we use law as an instrument to change attitudes, customs, laws, and policies that are against women. In the course of running the organization, we have helped quite a number of female victims by seeking reprieve for them in the law courts. Most times, we have won. We have carried out many seminars and workshops in order to sensitize members of the society, especially women, on their rights. We once had the case of a female professor who was always battered by her husband. The most pathetic and stunning case WLDCN has handled was the case of a father who was serially raping his daughters. He had four daughters, and he took pleasure in raping them one after the other. Their mother knew about it, but she couldn’t do much because she was economically dependent on the man. WLDCN got to hear about it when he started on his fourth daughter. We went to see him, but he just went on bluffing. We told him that we would soon get him incarcerated. We filed a court injunction to have him committed to a mental institution. Judge Aguda helped us to handle the case well. We got an order to have him remanded. But he ran away. Since then, no one has seen him. We placed the last girl, who was in JSS 2, in a boarding school. We empowered the woman so she would have the freedom to see her children whenever she wanted to. The girls are doing well now.
Family and Friendship
I met my husband in 1957, just after I left school. We met at a party. He was not my dream. In my own dream, my ideal man is tall, light complexioned and bearing an English name! But reality is different. Eight months after we met, I left for England. The relationship picked up again in London. He was very kind and very loving. I believe it is always better for a man to be more in love with the women than vice versa. This way, it is easier for a woman to forgive his inadequacies. I would also suggest that one should make his or her spouse a friend, because when other things fade away, it is the friendship that remains. Friendship amongst couples facilitates understanding, peace of mind and progress. Once the ecstatic love diminishes with time, friendship would continue to hold sway. This is what sustained my husband and I the forty years we were together. One’s happiness, though, must be self-inspired and self-sustained. It must come from one’s self first. If one has no happiness in one’s self, then one cannot get it from someone or something else.
Having children is a fulfilling experience. But it can only be completely fulfilling when the children are brought up to be responsible and God-fearing. For some reasons, it is not every woman that can conceive. They should not give up. They should try to befriend some of the many children out there who are looking for just a bit of love. Women must look for these children. With the advancement in science we have presently, I believe that no woman should be childless until the golden age of fifty. Nevertheless, it is God who gives children. There is power in prayer. One must pray sincerely. Motherhood is very fulfilling. One of the greatest and happiest days of my life was when my daughter had her first child. Children should be taught how to pray. They should have the fear of God, and this would prevent them from doing evil. My daughter was an only child for a long time, so I took in a lot of other children to stay with us so my daughter would learn to share, learn to tolerate, learn to be sensitive to others’ needs, and learn to be selfless.
A Persistent Worker
I am a workaholic. I work until I have achieved. I am a steady, persistent worker. I am a thorough person. My daughter used to say, ‘my father is possibly more brilliant, but my mother is more steady!’ I don’t give up until I have achieved. Whether one is being watched or not, one should put in one’s best. Whether it is appreciated or not, keep on doing your best. Don’t indulge in sycophancy. When I have friends or loved ones who are in one
political office or the other, I don’t like going to see them. This is because I don’t want people to rubbish my hard-won achievements by thinking that the achievements happened because of someone else’s influence. If I don’t want to do anything, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t care what people say. It is
immaterial. I am still writing. I’m also preparing my late mother’s biography. I am someone who came, did her best, and hopes to be with her maker one day. I am someone who used to be short-tempered, but learnt over the years to be more patient. I like challenges; I do not see problems – I only see challenges. I combat challenges. I love to have friends and I am always loyal to my friends. I like people who have confidence in their abilities and who exhibit it for others to emulate.
