Laila Dogonyaro lived a life shaped by circumstances that might easily have confined her to the margins of Nigeria’s public history. Born on 10 December 1944 in the Hadejia area of what is now Jigawa State, she completed Primary Six before being married at the age of 13 years and four months. She never returned to formal school.

Yet that was only the beginning of her story.

Dogonyaro continued learning through reading, private instruction, seminars, workshops and political experience. She became closely associated with Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa, participated in party politics, rose through the National Council of Women’s Societies and eventually became its national president. By the 1990s, she was publicly arguing that women deserved more than symbolic appointments in Nigerian government.

Her journey offers an important window into the development of organised women’s activism in Northern Nigeria during the second half of the twentieth century.

Laila Dogonyaro and the Marriage That Ended Her Formal Schooling

Dogonyaro was married at 13 years and four months, immediately after completing Primary Six.

Marriage at a young age was not unusual in the environment in which she grew up. Several girls among her contemporaries also married during childhood, and early marriage formed part of the social world she knew.

Her formal schooling ended permanently after Primary Six.

She never attended secondary school or university, but her intellectual development continued in other ways.

Her first husband worked as a district manager for G.B. Ollivant and played an important role in broadening her knowledge of politics and public affairs. He discussed government, society and current issues with her and encouraged her interest in the world beyond the home.

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Dogonyaro also credited her mother with influencing her sense of independence, discipline and personal dignity.

She continued her education through reading, workshops, seminars and training programmes. These experiences gradually helped prepare her for the organisational and political work that would define much of her adult life.

Laila Dogonyaro and Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa

One of the organisations that became central to Dogonyaro’s public life was Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa, commonly translated as the Northern Women’s Association.

The organisation was founded on 27 May 1963 and became an important platform for women across Northern Nigeria.

Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa emerged during a period when women were becoming increasingly organised around education, welfare, economic development and participation in public life.

Dogonyaro became one of its prominent pioneer figures and later occupied important organisational roles.

Her involvement demonstrated a central feature of her career. Much of her influence came through women’s associations that mobilised members, developed community programmes and engaged directly with government institutions.

For many women in Northern Nigeria, organisations such as Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa provided opportunities to participate in public affairs at a time when female representation within formal political institutions remained limited.

Through these networks, Dogonyaro developed experience in organisation, leadership and advocacy.

From Women’s Organisation to Party Politics

Dogonyaro’s activities eventually extended into formal politics.

In 1977, she participated in an electoral contest in Tudun Wada, Kaduna State.

During Nigeria’s Second Republic, which began in 1979, she became associated with the National Party of Nigeria, the party that formed the federal government under President Shehu Shagari.

Her political involvement expanded the platform from which she could address women’s participation in government and public administration.

However, some of her most significant leadership work continued to take place through organised women’s movements.

The most important of these was the National Council of Women’s Societies, widely known as the NCWS.

Laila Dogonyaro Becomes NCWS National President

Dogonyaro headed the Kaduna State branch of the National Council of Women’s Societies from 1985 until 1993.

In 1993, she contested the national presidency of the NCWS.

She won the election with 468 votes, while Hajiya Amina Sambo received 242 votes.

Dogonyaro subsequently became national president of the organisation, placing her at the centre of one of Nigeria’s largest networks of women’s groups.

Her programme extended beyond general calls for the advancement of women.

During her leadership, she was associated with income-generating projects, programmes for disadvantaged children, training initiatives, family welfare and efforts to increase women’s participation in public administration.

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Economic independence was an important part of her approach.

Dogonyaro recognised that meaningful participation required more than ceremonial recognition. Women needed access to education, training, economic opportunities and positions in which they could contribute to decision-making.

She was also outspoken about the small number of women appointed to important public offices.

In 1994, Dogonyaro called for substantially greater female representation in local administration and criticised token appointments of women.

Her concern was not simply that women should be visible in government, but that their participation should be substantial enough to influence public affairs.

WOLF, National Recognition and the Expansion of Her Activism

Dogonyaro continued her organisational work after her period of leadership in the NCWS.

In 1998, she established the Women’s Opinion Leaders Forum, commonly known as WOLF.

The organisation sought to increase the number of women occupying elective and appointive political positions.

This initiative reflected a concern that had appeared repeatedly throughout Dogonyaro’s public career: women needed access to institutions where decisions were made.

Her activism also extended into social and health issues.

She spoke about vesico-vaginal fistula, commonly known as VVF, a serious childbirth injury that could leave affected women facing severe medical problems as well as social isolation.

Dogonyaro supported greater attention to the needs and treatment of women living with the condition.

By this period, she had become one of Nigeria’s better-known advocates for women’s participation in public life.

In 2001, she received the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON, in recognition of her public work.

Her interventions were not confined to issues affecting women. She also participated in wider national discussions and called for dialogue during periods of political tension.

Education Beyond the Classroom

One of the most significant aspects of Dogonyaro’s life was the way she continued learning after formal schooling ended.

She had no secondary or university education, yet she spent decades developing knowledge through books, political discussions, seminars, conferences, training programmes and organisational leadership.

Her life demonstrates the important role that informal education could play in creating opportunities for participation in public life.

Her mother contributed to her sense of personal independence. Her husband encouraged her interest in political and social affairs. Reading expanded her knowledge, while women’s organisations gave her opportunities to apply what she had learned.

Over time, these influences helped transform Dogonyaro from a young woman whose schooling had ended after Primary Six into a national organisational leader.

Laila Dogonyaro and Women in Nigerian Politics

The issue that occupied much of Laila Dogonyaro’s political life remains significant in Nigeria: the representation of women in government.

Women continue to occupy only a small proportion of seats in the National Assembly.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union records 15 women among 356 sitting members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, representing 4.2 per cent, and four women among 107 sitting senators, representing 3.7 per cent.

The constitutional membership of the two chambers is 360 members in the House of Representatives and 109 senators.

Women’s representation has consequently remained an important subject of political and constitutional debate.

On 24 September 2026, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas announced that President Bola Tinubu was expected to present executive legislation proposing additional legislative seats for women and persons with disabilities.

The proposal formed part of continuing discussions about ways to increase the participation of women in Nigerian political institutions.

Dogonyaro had died many years before this renewed debate, but the question at its centre was familiar to her generation of women activists.

More than three decades earlier, she had criticised token representation and argued for a considerably larger presence of women in public administration.

Her work formed part of a longer Nigerian movement that connected political representation with education, economic independence and institutional participation.

Conclusion

Laila Dogonyaro died at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano on 28 April 2011. She was 66 years old and was buried at Garki in Jigawa State.

The circumstances of her childhood stand in striking contrast to the public career she later built.

She completed Primary Six and was married at 13 years and four months. Formal schooling ended, but she continued educating herself through reading, training, discussion and participation in women’s organisations.

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From Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa, she moved into political activity and leadership within the National Council of Women’s Societies. She later established the Women’s Opinion Leaders Forum and continued campaigning for women’s political, educational, economic and social advancement.

Her importance in Nigerian history therefore goes beyond the circumstances of her early marriage.

Dogonyaro belonged to a generation of women who built influence through organisations, community networks and sustained advocacy. These institutions created important spaces in which Nigerian women could develop leadership experience and demand a greater role in national affairs.

By the time of her death, the girl whose formal education had ended after primary school had become a recognised national figure in the long movement to expand women’s participation in Nigerian public life.

Author’s Note

Laila Dogonyaro’s life illustrates the power of continued learning, organisation and public participation. Her early marriage shaped her childhood, but her later history was defined by decades of work through women’s associations, political networks and social campaigns. Her contribution belongs within the wider history of Nigerian women who built institutions, created opportunities for others and challenged the limited place traditionally assigned to women in political and public life.

References

NBF News. “What Life Taught Me.” The Nigerian Voice, 1 May 2011.

Bilkisu Yusuf. “A Call to Duty: Laila Dogonyaro.” Citizen, 17 January 1994. National Library of Nigeria archive.

Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa. Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa: The Way Forward, Founded May 27, 1963: The Struggle of Women Before and After Beijing. 1997.

Kathleen McGarvey. Muslim and Christian Women in Dialogue: The Case of Northern Nigeria. Peter Lang, 2009.

Aliyu Dangida. “Woman Activist, Laila Dogonyaro Laid to Rest.” Vanguard, 30 April 2011.

Inter-Parliamentary Union. Parline: Nigeria, Data on Women in Parliament.

Sodiq Omolaoye. “Tinubu to Send Special Seats Bills for Women, PWDs to NASS, Abbas.” The Guardian Nigeria, 24 September 2026.