Margaret Ekpo: The Salt Strategy That Mobilized Nigerian Women for the Vote

Margaret Ekpo was a pioneering activist who risked everything to make women’s voices impossible to ignore in a society where they had to fight to be heard. Born in 1914, when Nigeria was under British rule and women were barred from voting, Ekpo completed her Standard Six education in 1934. Her plans to enter teacher training were abruptly halted by her father’s death. To support herself, she took work as a pupil-teacher at local elementary schools.

Education and Early Life

In 1944, Ekpo joined her husband, Dr John Udo Ekpo, a medical practitioner, in Ireland. There she furthered her education at the Rathmines School of Domestic Economy in Dublin, earning a diploma in domestic science. On returning to Aba in Eastern Nigeria, her husband began working at Aba General Hospital while Ekpo established her own domestic science and sewing training school.

An Unexpected Entry into Politics

Ekpo’s introduction to politics was unexpected. Amid growing nationalist demands for independence from British colonial rule, local meetings were convened to protest widespread racial discrimination within the civil service. Her husband’s status as a government-employed doctor restricted his political involvement, so Ekpo attended these gatherings on his behalf. As the only woman present, she witnessed impassioned speeches by figures such as Nnamdi Azikiwe and Herbert Macaulay, which inspired her to take action.

She was also struck by the rampant discrimination in the colonial medical sector, where Nigerian staff suffered unequal pay, inferior working conditions, and limited advancement opportunities. Colonial healthcare facilities were initially reserved exclusively for European officers, with access later extended to their local employees. Nigerian medical personnel, however, were prohibited from treating European patients.

Working alongside Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a key influence in Ekpo’s life, Ekpo actively advocated for women’s education, total independence from colonial rule, and universal adult suffrage. This advocacy was particularly crucial during the 1940s, an era when Nigerian women remained disenfranchised. The situation persisted even through 1951, when adult taxpayer suffrage was introduced but still excluded most women.

The Salt Strategy and the Aba Township Women Association

The task before Ekpo was clear: mobilize the women in Aba and its surrounding towns. Her vision began with the creation of the Aba Township Women Association (ATWA) and an ingenious strategy using salt. Following the Second World War, Nigeria faced widespread commodity shortages, particularly of salt. Under her shrewd plan, Ekpo acquired the entire salt supply in the Aba Market and tied access to it to ATWA membership. Women seeking to purchase salt were required to join the association, rapidly consolidating local women into a cohesive socio-political organization.

ATWA would evolve into a formidable political force, collaborating with the Aba Community League and the Aba Market Women’s Association to advance anti-colonial discourse, promote civic participation, and successfully dismantle the male monopoly on local governance by electing female representatives to the Aba Urban District Council. In 1957, Ekpo’s own influence was formalized when she was appointed to the Aba Urban District Council Caretaker Committee.

National Politics and Constitutional Conferences

Despite making her mark locally, Ekpo had grander ambitions. As a prominent member of the National Council of Nigerians and Cameroons (NCNC), Eastern Nigeria’s main political party, Ekpo served as the region’s sole female delegate at the London constitutional conference in 1953 and the Lagos constitution conference in 1954, ensuring women’s interests were represented throughout the nation’s constitutional negotiations.

In January 1959, she achieved a historic breakthrough alongside Janet Mokelu, with their appointment as Special Members to the Eastern House of Chiefs, a traditionally male-dominated institution. Despite this and her significant influence among voters, when Ekpo sought nomination for the Eastern House of Assembly elections in 1957, the party hierarchy refused to endorse female candidates, blocking her candidacy. She persevered within the party structure, ultimately taking over the leadership of the NCNC women’s wing in 1960 – the year that Nigeria celebrated its independence.