MEET FUNMILAYO RANSOME KUTI, AN EDUCATOR WHO WAS THE FIRST EVEN WOMAN IN HISTORY TO DRIVE A CAR IN NIGERIA.

Abigail Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was born on the 25th of October 1900 to a Yoruba parents by name Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas and Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosolu in Abeokuta.

source

Abigail amid her secondary school days, went to the Abeokuta Grammar school for her secondary education, and later flew out to England to advance her education. Upon graduation, Abigail came back to Nigeria and turned into an educator.

On 20 January 1925, she got hitched to her better half by name Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome Kuti who happened to be one of the organizers of both the Nigerian Union of Teachers and of the Nigerian Union of Students.

Abigail Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, was not just an educator, she was similarly a human right activist, political campaigner and she often stood up for women both the educated and non-educated ones, she was a conspicuous woman leader. She was similarly the first woman in the historical backdrop of West African and Nigeria to ride a car.

Abigail Funmilayo Ransom kuti at her young age

In 1949, as indicated by old history, she led a dissent against the Alake of Egbaland, she blamed the customary ruler for mishandling his powers and office in light of the fact that as at that point, he was accountable for imposing and collection of tax. She at that point went ahead to direct the abolishment of particular duty rates for ladies.

she was the organizer of the Federation of Nigerian Women's Association and furthermore she established the Abeokuta Women's Union which she framed together with Eniola Soyinka, the mother of Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka.

Funmilayo Ransome Kuti organized workshops for unskilled Market Women and proceeded with her battle against taxes and value controls.

Abigail Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was awarded the national honor of membership in the Order of Nigeria in 1965. The University of Ibadan also offered Abigail Funmilayo Ransomed kuti the privileged doctorate of laws in 1968. She likewise held a seat in the Western House of Chiefs of Nigeria as an oloye of the Yoruba people.

source

Aside the fact that she is the first woman lady to drive a bicycle and car in West Africa, Throughout her profession, she was known as a teacher and activist. She and Elizabeth Adekogbe gave dynamic authority to women's rights in the '50s. She established an association for ladies in Abeokuta, with an enrollment count of more than 20,000 women spreading over both educated and and non-educated women.

Adding to her successful life, she was similarly the mother of well known artist and extremist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Beko Ransome Kuti, a doctor, Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti, a doctor who was one time minister for health in Nigeria.

Sadly, this educator, activist and the first ever woman to ride a car in West Africa died in 1978 from wounds she sustained in her child's compound during a military assault. Till date Abigail Funmilayo kuti is still remembered as a woman who stood and fought for the rights of woman in the 50's in Nigeria. She was a true hero.

REFERENCES

• https://www.naija.ng/1132653-first-woman-drive-a-car-nigeria.html

• https://zodml.org/discover-nigeria/people/funmilayo-ransome-kuti#.WytSEvEo80M

• https://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/11/funmilayo-ransome-kuti-lioness-of.html?m=1

• http://kesoftz.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-first-woman-to-drive-car-in-nigeria.html?m=1