Pioneering Voices: Women Who Shaped Nigeria’s Media

 By Eniola Olagunju 

On an October evening in 1959, television flickered to life in Ibadan as Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) began transmission, becoming the first television station in Africa. When the broadcast opened, the face that appeared before viewers belonged to a woman.

Her name was Anike Agbaje-Williams, and in that moment she became the first person to appear on Nigerian television.

Her story is only one among many.

Across Nigeria’s broadcasting studios, newspaper offices and production rooms, women played crucial roles in shaping the country’s media landscape. They read the news, edited publications, produced programmes and expanded the space for women’s voices in public life. Yet many of their stories remain outside the centre of Nigeria’s media history.

Every March, International Women’s Day invites the world to remember women who changed history. In Nigeria, the names that often dominate such conversations belong to political activists and nationalist figures like Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Margaret Ekpo and Gambo Sawaba.

But beyond the political arena, another group of women quietly shaped the nation’s public life through microphones, television cameras, newsrooms and printing presses. They informed audiences, transformed broadcasting and helped define the voice of Nigerian media during its formative decades.

Their contributions helped build the foundations of the country’s broadcasting and journalism traditions even if their names rarely appear in the dominant story of Nigeria’s media history.

Photo credit: Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria 

Agbaje-Williams stands at the beginning of that story. Her journey into broadcasting began in 1955 at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos. When she was unexpectedly asked to read the news on air, her performance secured her a permanent role as a staff announcer. Four years later, she joined the pioneering team at WNTV in Ibadan, becoming the first person to appear on Nigerian television when the station launched in 1959.

With impeccable diction and a prodigious memory, she built a career that extended beyond announcing. Rising through the ranks to become a producer and later director of programmes, she helped shape television content that celebrated Nigerian culture, bringing traditional dance, music and fashion to a national audience.

Photo credit: Archivi.ng

While Agbaje-Williams was shaping the voice of television broadcasting, Hilda Ogunbanjo was working to ensure women had a place in Nigeria’s print media.

In the 1960s, recognising how rarely women’s perspectives appeared in mainstream publications, Ogunbanjo founded AMBER, widely regarded as Nigeria’s first women’s magazine. The lifestyle publication opened space for conversations about women’s aspirations, challenges and achievements at a time when such narratives were largely absent from public discourse.

Her influence extended beyond journalism. As president of the International Women’s Society in Lagos, Ogunbanjo championed initiatives that supported widows, promoted skill acquisition and strengthened community support for women navigating economic hardship.

Photo credit: Archivi.ng

By the late twentieth century, the struggle for representation in media and politics was taking on new forms. Nkechi Nwankwo, who began her journalism career in 1987 as a production sub-editor at This Week magazine, witnessed firsthand the absence of women in leadership positions.

After moving to Champion newspaper and eventually becoming editor of Sunday Champion, she began documenting the structural barriers facing women in Nigerian politics. Her research would later culminate in Gender Equality in Nigerian Politics, completed during a writer’s fellowship at Oxford. The work analysed the impact of female leadership on governance, drawing insights from international political figures and expanding conversations about representation in Nigeria.

Photo credit: Archivi.ng

On television screens, meanwhile, a new generation of broadcasters was emerging. Among them was Ronke Dalley, whose presence on Western Nigeria Television quickly made her one of the most recognisable faces of Nigerian broadcasting.

At just 22, Dalley’s grace and intelligence captured the attention of audiences nationwide. Letters from admirers poured in as viewers were drawn to her poise and commanding presence. When WNTV later became part of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), her popularity grew even further, transforming the evening news into a nightly ritual for many households.

Photo credit: Tribune Online 

Another voice that would become deeply familiar to television audiences was Aisha Bello Mustapha. Over a broadcasting career that spanned decades at the Nigerian Television Authority, she developed a reputation for clarity, professionalism and authority in news presentation.

Her ability to combine composure with candour made her one of the most trusted figures in Nigerian broadcasting. Rising steadily through the organisation, she eventually became General Manager of NTA Parliament, bringing analytical depth to political coverage.

Photo credit: Bookshy

Not all pioneers of Nigerian media confined themselves to broadcasting alone. Adaora Lily Ulasi moved fluidly between journalism and literature, carving out a career that bridged international media and Nigerian storytelling.

Having worked with organisations such as the BBC and Voice of America, Ulasi also became one of Nigeria’s first female newspaper editors. At the same time, she was redefining crime fiction in Africa. Her detective novels including Many Thing You No Understand and The Man from Sagamu, transplanted Western whodunit traditions into Nigerian settings, capturing everyday speech, humour and social contradictions with striking authenticity.

Photo credit: Vanguard News

Television audiences of the 1970s would also have recognised Julie Coker, whose journey into broadcasting began unexpectedly after she was crowned Miss Western Nigeria in 1958.

The title opened doors into television, where she soon became a prominent figure on WNTV. Hosting programmes such as The Bar Beach Show and Julie’s World, Coker combined elegance with an easy conversational style that resonated with viewers. Later, she expanded her creative expression into music, blending Lagos disco with the rhythms of her Itsekiri heritage.

Photo credit: Archivi.ng

Another commanding presence on television screens was Deola Adeleke-Adedoyin. Known for her eloquence and natural stage presence, she approached broadcasting with the instincts of a performer,.a skill sharpened through training in drama and speech under Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.

Adeleke-Adedoyin understood television as an intimate medium that demanded connection with audiences. Her professionalism and confidence helped redefine what it meant to be a female television personality in Nigeria during the 1970s.

Photo credit: Archivi.ng

Behind the scenes, women were also shaping the creative architecture of Nigerian television. Rita Lori began building her career at the Nigerian Television Service in her early twenties, producing programmes such as Feminine Fancies, Take a Trip, Students’ Stadium and My Guest.

For Lori, challenging gender limitations was a matter of principle. She believed women needed to demonstrate their capabilities through action rather than acceptance of restricted roles. In later years, she would become a successful entrepreneur and advocate for the rights of the Itsekiri people.

And while some women shaped broadcasting and journalism directly, others contributed to the national consciousness through the written word.

Photo credit: Arts Lounge Magazine 

Felicia Adedoyin, an academic and writer, authored the text that would eventually become Nigeria’s national pledge. Inspired by her children’s experiences reciting pledges in schools abroad, she wrote an article titled Loyalty to the Nation, Pledge in the Daily Times in 1976. The words caught the attention of the federal government and were later adopted as the pledge recited daily by millions of Nigerian students.

Together, these women helped define Nigeria’s media landscape by shaping the voices, images and narratives that reached the public.

Yet their names rarely appear in the dominant story of Nigerian media history.

In revisiting their contributions during International Women’s Month, a fuller picture of the nation’s media heritage begins to emerge. Long before the age of digital journalism and social media, these women were already shaping how Nigerians saw themselves through broadcasts, publications and stories that helped define a nation in conversation with itself.