Eighty-year-old Dame Jane Ejueyitchie-Oroye talks about her life’s triumphs and challenges with TOPE OMOGBOLAGUN
Tell us about your childhood.
I was born on December 18, 1938. My parents were both traders. My father sold textiles and later added provisions. My mother, on the other hand, traded in fish and crayfish. She sold crayfish in bags. At the peak of her career, she had nine stalls in Onitsha market. She introduced many women to the trade.
Would you say you had it smooth as a child?
My parents had eight children and I am the second of eight children. We are a close family and we maintain that till date. That was my mother’s ambition. She wanted us to be in unity and she helped us all to be like that. She lived for her family. My father was comfortable in relative terms and we lacked nothing. But we also grew up in a family compound. There was no difference between my parents’ children and my cousins. That was how we lived and we thank God that we still uphold that.
Tell us about your educational background.
I was born in Sapele, Delta State. My primary education started from there. I attended St. Luke’s Girls School, Sapele. When I completed primary school, I attended secondary school at St. Anne’s School, Ibadan, Oyo State. It used to be CMS Girls School but in the 50s, it was moved to Ibadan, This year, it will be celebrating 150 years. It can be said to be the oldest girls’ school in Nigeria.
It was run by missionaries and emphasis was on spiritual upbringing. Academics were not neglected as well. They wanted to see us grow up as good Christians, good mothers and citizens. I spent my formative years in the school. During my time, St. Anne’s didn’t have higher school, so I went to Ibadan Grammar School for two years and obtained school certificate.
Upon completion of higher school, I waited for nine months because then, we completed higher school around December and the universities resumed in September. We had what was called the ‘waiting period’ which we mostly spent working.
I spent the nine months working as a teacher at the St. Catherine Girls School, Owo, Ondo State. I can’t remember why I chose the school but my life had been within the missionary schools and I loved teaching.
After leaving St. Catherine School, I resumed in September at the University College, Ibadan, to study History. It became the University of Ibadan after my first year. I was in the school from 1961 to 1964. Five years later, I did postgraduate Diploma in Education at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba.
What did you do within the five years before you went for postgraduate?
While I was teaching In Owo, my principal at St. Anne’s wrote to me that the government was going to award scholarships for young ladies who would want to take up teaching as a profession. I studied at the UI through a scholarship. That means that I had a bond to serve the government for three years. I had always loved teaching and I knew that all I wanted to teach.
My mother couldn’t understand when I told her I wanted to become a teacher. But that was what I wanted to do and I thank God that I was able to do so. But the time I finished, Bendel State had been carved out of western region and the capital was in Benin City. I went to report in Benin City where I was given a job and that was how I took up a teaching job at Edo College.
Tell us more about your career path.
Like I said, I had started teaching immediately after my secondary school education and I knew it was something I needed to do. My mother tried to persuade me not to do it. She urged my cousins and close friends to talk me out of it. But for me, it was teaching. I was told to go into administration, but I told them I didn’t want to deal with files. I preferred to relate with people, especially the younger ones that I can have positive impact on.
I taught for three years after leaving the UI. I had to serve the government as signed in my bond because I went to school on scholarship. After my three years bond was completed, I joined the civil service but the professional arm of the civil service. I was posted to Federal Government College, Warri. I was there for two years before I went to UNILAG. You must have a certificate in Education to teach.
By then, I had taught for five years even without the certificate. I consider myself a born teacher. But it was good that I acquired the certificate.
When I completed postgraduate, I was posted to the ministry of education. I worked in the ministry for a long time but after some years, I was posted to Queen’s College as vice principal. Shortly after, I was transferred back to the ministry and this time, I stayed there for 10 years. I was fully in administration then and I had risen to the position of an assistant director of education. I had many sections under me – the Language Centre, the Book Development that is where my book production started from. The National Commission for UNESCO was under me too.
All these gave me opportunities and exposure. I was at the First World Book Congress; Prof. Wole Soyinka was at the congress too. I also organised the First Nigerian Book Congress. The opportunities created interest in me in those areas. After retirement, all I wanted to do was to be involved in book production. I had opportunity to attend book fairs in the UK, Germany, Singapore and Italy. Life was sweet in the ministry and I am glad I had the opportunity.
After 10 years in the ministry, I was returned to Queen’s College as principal of the school. I enjoyed my work but there was an incident when I was at the school and that led to my retirement because I insisted on discipline. I believe a school can’t run well without discipline.
What was the incident?
The school had a rule that girls cannot perm their hair. There was a holiday and after resumption, some girls came to school with permed hairstyles. During the assembly, I asked the teachers to check around to see those with such hairstyles and the school rule said that the hair should be cut.
We got scissors and I told the vice principal to cut the hair. One of the punished students was a child of a highly-placed person in the country.
The ministry did not like what I did and I didn’t like the fact that my pupils were told that I would be dealt with for doing what I did.
I was posted out of QC to Benin City. I went there because as a civil servant, one must obey one’s postings. I obeyed and reported in Benin, and then, I came back and resigned. That was how I ended my career in the civil service. I have no regrets whatsoever that I stood my grounds.
Why didn’t you establish a school considering your love for teaching?
When I resigned, I was thinking of starting my own school. I had problems especially with lands. When I look back now, I say God didn’t want me to have a school of my own. One day, somebody took me and my cousin to check a land. All I could see were swampy lands. I saw the depths being filled by a firm and was like where would I get money to fill a land? But now, when I see all the buildings and schools in that area, I concluded that God wanted me to use the knowledge he gave me somewhere else. It required much capital, which I did not have; so, I left it.
What do you do in retirement?
I mentioned earlier about my love for book development. I decided to run a bookshop but I discovered that Nigeria is not a reading society. I got everything ready for the beginning of the school year for pupils in Victoria Island, Lagos. The turnover was not encouraging at all but some people have done it successfully. However, I gave up on it and started to develop myself in writing.
To the glory of God, I have published three books. I would have done more than that but for the challenges of publishers who held onto manuscripts for five years because they also had their problems.
School textbooks were the only ones that were sure of being sold. But then, the number of people who bought school textbooks was low.
I was also involved in school after that but it was in service to God not that I was earning a salary. When Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was campaigning, he promised to return the schools taken over by government to their rightful owners. I was appointed to head a committee negotiating with the government for the schools to be returned.
It was a great delight to see that five schools were returned to the Lagos Anglican Diocese. Though there are now five dioceses formed out of the old Diocese of Lagos, a board, known as the Lagos Anglican Schools Management Board, was formed for the administration of the schools and I was made the board’s chairman. For eight years, I served as the chairman of the board running the school.
I knew what those schools were when we got them – dilapidated buildings, unruly behaviours by pupils. I thank God that by the time I was leaving, we turned the schools around and they are all still doing very well till date.
When did you marry?
I got married in 1966 to the late Mr Anitejuoritse Ejueyitchie. He became the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and later Head of Service. He was the number one civil servant. He was honest, a man of integrity and diligent in service. He was the father of my five children. He had a very brilliant career before he died. He died when our children were young. My last child was about eight months, 13 days. My husband died early. God saw us through that phase. Actually, two days after my 80th birthday made it 40 years of his death. I was 40 when my husband died. He died after a very brief illness in 1978. It was a big blow to me; I didn’t know how I could cope with five children.
Many years after, precisely 1999, I married another amazing man to be proud of. He was an accountant who served the Lord faithfully and diligently. He died in 2016. I have become a widow twice.
My second husband, Mr Oroye, was a friend and known to my kids. I didn’t marry until I was sure that my children were stable and by the time I told them I was going to marry him, they accepted him and respected him a lot.
Is any of your children following after your career path?
None of them is following my career path. My first daughter is an architect; I have lawyers and a banker.
Do you think teachers get enough compensation for their labour?
I was in the civil service and it’s the same salary for every level in the service. Even at that, those in administration rose quicker than US in the education line. But we were engrossed in our jobs that we didn’t bother about those things.
But for teachers outside the civil service, I wouldn’t say they were well remunerated. The condition has to be good because a lot is expected from teachers. To show commitment to work, you must be well paid, so as not to be running around doing other things to support your meagre salary. When they are doing other things, they won’t be able to prepare well for the class, grade scripts, prepare good lesson notes and the rest.
They are not well paid and that has affected our standard of education. The importance of teachers in nation building has to be acknowledged by organisations and government. By that, they will carry out quality service. I earlier said I got a scholarship; it was all the effort of my principal.
She wrote to me, came to look for me, she put in everything for me to get the scholarship. Our teachers went all out to make sure we succeeded. That is what teaching is supposed to be and that is supposed to be the attitude of every worker, that our work is a means to serve God.
What is your advice to youths?
Money is not bad but it is how one gets it and what one does with it that matters. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. One can’t be a millionaire or a billionaire immediately after leaving school. There is a process. Be patient. Don’t run when you can only walk. Do whatever God gives you with all diligence. Excessive love for money should be discouraged among the youth. Always remember that a good name is better than riches. When you get money the right way, you will spend it well. We pray Nigeria will be better. We want a Nigeria where every graduate will get a good job. Youths should have a right attitude to life.
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