Margaret ekpos contributions

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They were harassed and threatened with deportation. This incident highlighted the fierce loyalty and solidarity among women in their struggle for justice.

In 1950s, after the tragic murder of Mrs. Onyia, a prison officer killed for rejecting unwanted advances, Margaret and the women of Aba stormed the Enugu Prisons Department. Margaret made a powerful speech at the event, but this act of defiance led to her arrest and threats of deportation.

Margaret’s plan to mobilise Women worked. This was her first taste of political engagement, and it opened her eyes to the injustices faced by Nigerians under colonial rule.

At a political rally, Margaret was struck by the powerful speeches of leaders like Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe. As the leader of the new market group, she was able to garner the trust of a large number of women in the township and turn it into a political pressure group.

However, many husbands were reluctant to let their wives participate. Her position enabled her to fight for issues affecting women at the time, in particular the progress of women in economic and political matters such as the availability of transportation on major roads leading to markets.

In 1953, Ekpo was nominated by the NGNC to the regional House of Chiefs, and in 1954 she established the Aba Township Women’s Association. Households could not live without salt, so men had no other option but to give in and let their wives register. With the death of her father in 1934, she could not attain an education beyond the standard six school-leaving certificate, dashing her hopes of attending a teacher training college.

The following year, she established the Aba Township Women’s Association, transforming it into a political pressure group. The authorities covered up the murder to avoid controversy, but Ekpo and the Aba women stormed the Enugu Prisons Department demanding to see where the deceased was buried. She then started working as a pupil teacher in elementary schools.

She subsequently settled for a tutoring job, teaching at various elementary schools until she married Dr John Udo Ekpo, a medical practitioner, in 1938.
Her determination to advance her education motivated her to obtain a diploma in Domestic Economics in 1948 at the Rathmine School of Domestic Economics in Dublin, Ireland (now the Dublin Institute of Technology) during the period her husband was taken there for medical attention.

This initiative was another step toward empowering women, as it provided them with valuable skills to improve their economic situations.

By the late 1940s, Margaret had organized the Aba Market Women Association, which became a vital platform for women's solidarity. To overcome this, Margaret cleverly bought all the available salt during a scarcity, ensuring that only women who joined the association could purchase it.

By 1955, women in Aba had outnumbered men voters in a citywide election.

She won a seat to the Eastern Regional House of Assembly in 1961, a position that allowed her to fight for issues affecting women at the time. She realized that she could no longer remain a passive observer; she had to take action. In retaliation, the women of Aba threatened to set the town ablaze.

Her name graces the Ekpo Refectory at the University of Nigeria, Nsukkaand various other buildings and structures across the nation.