"At first, when we went in they said I didn’t look like a medical student, so they thought I was being pushed or favoured because I am from a Hausa-Fulani area. They started following me up until they started seeing our results and they gave up."
Halima Yelwa Adamu is a Nigerian paediatrician and civil servant. She is among the first female medical doctors from Northern Nigeria. Adamu is known for her service as a commissioner in both Kaduna and Katsina States during the 1980s, her role in the establishment of the Federal Character Commission and her advocacy for women's access to healthcare, education and financial independence in Nigeria
"I think I am very lucky because my late father really wanted his children, both girls and boys to go to school. His interest in me actually surfaced after I was taken into the care of one of my aunts. After giving me to her, he requested for three things – I should be put into school, I should not get married at a very early age, and I should not be given tribal marks. Unfortunately... I was also given tribal marks"
"My preferred subject was Mathematics ... I was given admission, but somehow, my family ... decided that I should read Medicine. At that time there were no female medical doctors, so all I needed was to apply to read Medicine. They gave me the offer and that was how I ended up in the profession."
"My advantage is that being a pediatrician in Nigeria, which is a third-world country with a large population of children, anywhere you go you will see children. So I don’t think I left my practice. Up till now I have not left the profession."
"We were fortunate because the late Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Usman Nagwaggo, was interested in the education of the girl-child. His children and sisters went to school. The children of titleholders in the emirate also went to school. So it was not very difficult. And the then Katsina Native Authority was very supportive."
"I don’t look like somebody who should be able to read and write; I still have that problem. I remember that as a medical student, when we were going through some corridors, some gatemen would stop me and let others go."
"I didn’t find it strange to be in Kano because at that time, my father was there when I was in secondary school. It was a boarding school and I was not staying with them at home, but at least they were available."