coder Ladi Kwali is the first woman
on the Nigerian naira note,
the N20 note to be precise. To
celebrate International
Women's Day, Friends Base is
compiling a list of facts about
her:

1. Lady Kwali was born in the
village of Kwali in 1925, the
Gwari region of Northern
Nigeria, where pottery was an
indigenous female tradition.

2. Her pots were noted for their
beauty of form and decoration,
and she was recognized
regionally as a gifted and
eminent potter.

3. Several were acquired by the
Emir of Abuja, Alhaji Suleiman
Barau, in whose home they
were seen by Michael Cardew in
1950.

4. She learned to make pottery
as a child by her aunt using the
traditional method of coiling.

5. She is the only Nigerian
woman to be featured on a
currency note - 20 naira.

6. She left an indelible legacy of
her numerous works and a
school of ‘students’ who
inadvertently, picked up from
where she stopped at the
prestigious Abuja Pottery
Training School center.

7. She died on August 12, 1984.

8. A sculpture of her is being
made by Ambrose Diala.

9. A road in Abuja has been
named after her, named Ladi
Kwali road.

10. Kwali was awarded an MBE
(Member of the Order of the
British Empire) in 1962.

11. In 1980, the Nigerian
Government (from the Cabinet
Office of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria) invested on her with
the insignia of the Nigerian
National Order of Merit Award
(NNOM), the highest national
honour for academic
achievement.

12. The Sheraton Hotel houses
the Ladi Kwali Convention
Center, one of the largest
conference facilities in Abuja
with 10 meeting rooms and
four ballrooms.
Ladi Kwali has a road named
after her

13. In 1977, she was awarded
an honorary doctoral degree
from Ahmadu Bello University in
Zaria.

14. Ladi Kwali's pots were
featured in international
exhibitions of Abuja pottery in
1958, 1959, and 1962,
organized by Cardew.

15. In 1961, Kwali gave
demonstrations at the Royal
College, Farnham, and Wenford
Bridge in Great Britain. She also
gave demonstrations in France
and Germany over this period.