Author(s)

Ngozi N. Iheanacho

University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

This paper is a study of the status and operations of Nigerian First Ladies. The rise and boom dates back to 1987, during the tenure of Maryam Babangida—wife of the then president. Subsequent national First Ladies cued into the structure and legacy of the office and extended the phenomenon to state First Ladies. Like Amazons, they have continued to rise in fame, with exotic paraphernalia of office and pet-projects, making Nigeria a bee-hive of First Ladies operation. Through ethnographic and phenomenological method of knowledge inquiry and presentation in qualitative analysis the report is replete with reasons for the boom—the major being the people’s cosmology of woman and motherhood and, the onerous desire of women to adequately cue into the global project of gender balance in advancement. In spite of the marginal status of the office in the body polity of the nation, First Ladies have contributed significantly to human development index of the target group and, provided strategic platform for women mobilization and consciousness in public affairs.

Nigeria, First Ladies, Amazons, Crusaders, Better Life

Iheanacho, N. (2016) First Ladies in Nigeria: The Rise of Amazon Crusaders for Better Life of the Vulnerable. Advances in Applied Sociology, 6, 134-146. doi: 10.4236/aasoci.2016.63011.