7 Notable Female Role Models from Anambra State

Blessing Enenaite Featured 10/11/2020

Anambra State is blessed with hardworking individuals. Men and women of the state are major contributors to the development of the nation.

Hard work is one virtue some find challenging. Finding a path, mapping out the plan and sticking to the cause to actualize your goals is no mean feat.

NRTC – in recognition of hardworking women who have harnessed their gifts, affected lives positively and made a name for themselves – has previously travelled to Delta, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, and Imo.

Blessing Enenaite researches and acknowledges another 7 female role models, this time from the south eastern state of Anambra.

1. Dora Akunyuli

Dora Nkem Akunyili is a medical practitioner, famous for her fight against fake drugs. She was born on July 14, 1954 and died on June 7, 2014.

She obtained a Bachelors’ in Pharmacy from the University of Nigeria in 1978.

From 2001 to 2008, she was the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria. She held the position of Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Communications from December 17, 2008 to December 15, 2010.

Consequently, she won over 900 awards for her relentless service to humanity.

2. Chioma Chukwuka Akpotha

Born on 12 March, 1980, Chioma is an actress, movie producer, and public speaker. Her numerous works have not gone unnoticed as she has received numerous nominations and won a number of awards.

Apotha is a graduate of Banking and Finance, Lagos State University.

Among her numerous awards include the 2007 Africa Movie Academy Award for “Best Actress in a leading role”. This was in recognition of her sterling performance in “Sins of the Flesh.”

The highly rated blockbuster, “On Bended Knees’ is one of the movies she produced and/or co-produced.

She launched ‘Masterclass with Chioma’ in January 2019 which is aimed at supporting budding talents who aspire to become actors or who are looking to pursue a career in the movie industry.

3. Chika Oduah

Born on March 14, 1986, Chikaodinaka Sandra Oduah is a journalist, writer, and photographer. She is an alumnus of Georgia State University and Medill School of Journalism.

For her outstanding work, she was awarded a CNN Multichoice African Journalist Award in 2016.

Her exclusive coverage of the Boko Haram abduction of 276 school girls in Chibok, a community in Borno state, won her the Trust Women Journalist of The Year Award from the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2014.

Her journalism experience includes working as a television news reporter and documentary feature producer for K24 in Nairobi, Kenya.

She has also worked for National Broadcasting Corporation, Sahara Reporters, Al Jazeera, CNN and the Associated Press.

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Presently, she is a correspondent for Voice of America and the English language channel of France 24. She has been listed in YNaija’s “Nigeria’s 100 Most Inspiring Women.”

4. Chinyere Okunna

Prof. Chinyere Stella Okunna is an educationist and the first female professor of Mass communication in Nigeria (2001) from Anambra State.

She is the first female Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences in Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Presently, she is the director of Unizik 94.1FM.

Prof. Okunna (Source: Facebook – Chinyere Stella Okunna)

From 1996 to 1998, she was the Faculty Sub-Dean, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. And following that, she became the Head of Department for Mass Communication of the same university till 2006.

In addition, she held the following offices in Anambra state:

Commissioner, Ministry of Information and Culture (2006-2009).
Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget; Coordinating Commissioner for Development Partnership/Donor Agencies (2009-2014).
Chief of Staff (2012-2014)

5. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Adichie is a writer and author. She was born on September 15, 1977.

She is a graduate of Communications and Political Science from the Eastern Connecticut State University. Also, she bagged a Master of Arts degree in African Studies from Yale University.

She is the author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, The Thing Around Your Neck, Americanah, We all should be Feminists, Dear Ijeawele or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.

Her 2003-published novel, Purple Hibiscus, won her the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2005 for Best First Book. Half of a Yellow Sun bagged the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Americanah was also listed among the New York Times Ten Best Books of 2013.

6. Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy

Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was a visual artist whose paintings, prints, and sculptures are well known across the world. She was born on May 2, 1952 and died on December 17, 2012.

She gained international recognition as the first artist to get permission to paint the official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Chukwuogo-Roy (Source: Facebook – Nigerian Watch)

In 2003, the University of East Anglia awarded her with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters. Also, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honors.

7. Ngozi Ezeonu

Ngozi Ezeonu is an actress and former journalist, born on 23 May, 1965. She is an alumnus of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. Thereafter, she worked for Radio Lagos and Eko FM.

Before majoring in playing maternity roles in Nollywood, she starred in the 1993 Zeb Ejiro movie, “Nneka the Pretty Serpent”.

Also, she played a formidable role in the 1994 movie Glamour Girls. In 2012, she received a nomination at the 8th Africa Movie Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Adesuwa”.