Mrs Mary Otolorin Lijadu, nee Martins, was born in Kano on 30th September
1931. She attended the only Catholic primary school in Kano at the time. She
spoke Hausa Fluently and lived in an environment where “Christians and Muslims
lived peacefully among themselves”. In her words: ”we played together and ate
together.” After her parents left Kano in the early 1940’s she continued her
education at St. Mary’s Primary School, Broad Street, Lagos for a year and a half.
News then came that a new secondary school for girls was to be established in
Lagos and in 1945, she sat the entrance examination and was admitted as a
Foundation student to Form I of the new Holy Child College in Obalende, Lagos.
In Holy Child College the nuns who taught this first set of girls were exceptionally
committed and great teachers. She fondly remembered nuns such as Reverend
Mother Fidelis, Reverend Mother Mary Marcella. The Principal was the
formidable Rev. Mother Mary Magdalene, according to Mary, the girls would
tremble and shake whenever she approached. All the nuns were impressive
characters but amongst them Reverend Mother Fidelis stood out as a multi-
talented and intellectually curious teacher who went out of her way to develop
the student’s talents, interests and love of life. Mrs. Oto Lijadu thus had her
talents nurtured and nourished at Holy Child. She developed a love of music and
literature. She learned how to sing and act and played the role of Portia in
Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”. At the age of 88 she could still quote
Anthony’s famous speech from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, “friends, Romans,
countrymen, lend me your ears,” she would begin.
At Holy Child her favourite subjects were History, Literature and Geography.
Upon finishing her secondary education she stayed on as a teacher in Holy Child.
This was in 1961. That is why to this day, many old girls still call her “Miss Mary”.
She toyed, for a while, with the idea of becoming a nun so she visited some
centres for novitiates (that is to say centres for training girls to become nuns),
but this was not to be. After some years teaching in Holy Child, the nuns sent
some names forward for consideration for a scholarship award to attend teacher-
training Colleges in England. Mrs. Lijadu won a scholarship and thus went to
Portsmouth Teacher Training College in South Sea, Portsmouth, England. After
two years training which she passed with Credit, she was awarded a Certificate in
Education from Southampton University. She later obtained her academic
Diploma in Education at London University. The raging controversy in education
at the time was about comprehensive schools as the future of public education in
Britain. Her thesis touched on some aspects of this burning issue of the time!
Subsequently she won a Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue her Post-
Graduate Diploma in Educational Administration and Organisation from Reading
University. On that course, she was the only African and the only woman among
17 men! She received a commendation for her work.
She returned home, to Lagos, Nigeria married Mr. Yemi Lijadu and started family
life. She also began teaching at Maryland Teacher Training College. Her family
grew and she had four sons of whom she is immensely proud and who apart
from being devoted sons are also her very best friends, Wole, Femi, Bunmi and
Tayo. For some years she lived and worked in Paris, France where her husband
worked for UNESCO.
A few of her notable positions included Education Officer, Federal Ministry of
Education, First Nigerian Education Officer, British Council, Lagos, and
Coordinator Catholic Women’s International Organisation (Nigeria). She was a
trustee of MUSON from inception and was largely responsible for setting up the first MUSON schools music competition and, of course, President, Holy Child
College, Old Girls Association for many years.
Yet, arguably her favourite position was that of grandmother, She called her
grandchildren her “guardian angels”. She has been known to declare that
“children are grand but grandchildren are grander!”
She has written numerous articles on education and about nurturing young
talent and has published two books: “Children’s Prayers” and “My Childhood
Journeys” which describes her fascinating journeys by rail as a child across
Nigeria. She had a deep appreciation for reading, writing poetry, drinking tea,
travelling around the world and telling stories to little children. On her time at
Holy Child she said “I am so grateful to Holy Child for the wonderful and
nurturing environment it provided for us all to develop into accomplished and
enlightened young women, useful to society and upholding the best of values:
“My education in Holy Child made me realise who I am and helped me to fulfil my God-given potential.
Mary Otolorin Lijadu passed away at 88 years old in Lagos, Nigeria.
She will be in our hearts forever.
