Hajiya Khadija was born on the 5th of October 1929 in the historic town of Katsina. She was born into the family of a renown teacher, the late Alhaji Ahmed Abdullah Metteden, who had toiled to see that education became accessible and affordable to Nigerians, especially Northerners.
Alhaji Ahmed was among the first set of students of the famous Katsina College (later metamorphosed to Barewa College). He was registered as Barewa No.4. On graduating he joined the teaching staff of the College, and taught notables like the late Sardauna, Sir Kashim Ibrahim and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Hajiya Khadija had her early education at Gidan Makama Primary School in Kano, and then proceeded to Sokoto as one of the pioneer students of WTC Sokoto. The fact that her late father was a teacher was not the only reason she ventured into that field; providence had also decreed that she will be a blessing to humanity, by impacting knowledge to others. Hence to her, teaching is a noble and rewarding profession.
She got married to Sir Kashim Ibrahim in 1944 and then continued to teach in the Maiduguri Elementary School until 1947, when she gave birth to her only child Fatima.
The life of Hajiya Khadija is remarkable in the sense that she was the female teacher to emerge in the North in those days, and was also daughter of a teacher and wife of a teacher.
She was a woman who took active life in women and girl-child education, especially when the Provincial Girls School was opened in Maiduguri in the early 50s. She was the School Special Visitor and was always present at its annual speech and prize giving ceremony.
Hajiya Khadija is woman blessed with good sense of judgment, religious values and humour. She is very sociable and had friends all over the country and abroad like the late Lady Adetokunbo Ademola and Mrs. Biobaku to name a few. During the course of her teaching career, students from all over the North and particularly daughters of dignitaries were put in her care. Even wives of the then colonial administrators treasured Hajiya Khadija so much that she was a frequent guest to tea parties and get-together for women, where she acted as an able liaison.
Hajiya Khadija lived in Lagos from 1952-1956 when her husband was one of the first Indigenous Ministers before independence. Then she also lived in Kaduna from 1956 to 1957 where Sir Kashim was a Regional Minister in the Sardauna Cabinet, where she herself was a member of the women’s corona society, membership of which was composed of colonial wives and wives of a few indigenous dignitaries. Hajiya Khadija was actively involved in various movements and projects for the amelioration of the suffering of women in Nigeria, especially when she became wife of the first indigenous governor of the North. She was a founding member of the Jamiyyar Matar Arewa (JMA), (Northern Women’s Association). She was able to lobby both the Sardauna and her husband to acknowledge the JMA, and not only were meetings held at Government House, but a house was also donated at Dendo Road Kaduna for the opening of an orphanage, the first of its kind and also the first project of the JMA. This was done with the collaboration of her friend and classmate at Kano and Sokoto, Hajiya Amina Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna’s second wife.

In recognition of her contributions to the upliftment of the lives of women in Nigeria, Hajiya Khadija was made a life patron and trustee of the Jamiyar Matan Arewa. She has received several awards from notable organizations. One of these has been presented to her by The National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) for her advancement of womanhood. The Northern Youth Association also gave her an award for socio-economic and political development in 2002. The Borno State Women’s League also gave her a merit award in 2004.
Most of Hajiya Khadija’s life has been spent in championing the cause of women, especially in the areas of education and social welfare. Although Hajiya Khadija is eighty years old, she is still very alert and is very much interested in all that is going on around her, more especially women-related matters, girl-child education and the propagation of the betterment of life for women in both social and economic sectors.
She has been a source of inspiration to many women in the North in particular and Nigeria in general. Some of her old friends who still refer to her as ‘’Malama’’ are retired teachers who taught at various schools, and are still actively engaged in the educational and social aspects of their societies.
Fellow readers, space will not permit me to mention and enumerate every facet of the life of this noble woman, and for this constraint, I bring this citation to a close.
Thank you and God bless.
(Note: KASA, represented by Bosoma Sheriff and Dr Mohammed Fannami visited Hajiya Khadija on Wednesday 6th May 2009 and were warmly recieved and gladly supplied with her citation and picture by Falmata Kashim Ibrahim in Sir Kashim House along Dandal Way, Maiduguri).
zurück