Dr. Simisola Johnson, the woman who recommended the establishment of the Ministry of Women Affairs in Nigeria

Simisola Olayemi Onibuwe Johnson, (1929 – 2000) was a Nigerian dentist who served as Minister for Social Development and Culture during the Shehu Shagari administration. Johnson and Grace Guobadia both qualified as dentists in 1957, making them the first trained female dentists in Nigeria.

Dr. Johnson was born in Lagos Island to the family of Alfred Latunde and Harriet Susan Johnson (née Crowther Nichol). She was the last born of her parents. Her father was a lawyer and a founding director of the National Bank of Nigeria in 1933, her maternal great-great-grandfather was Ajayi Crowther, while her great-grand-uncle was Herbert Macaulay.

Johnson later became the head of the women’s advisory committee charged to make recommendations to Ibrahim Babangida’s administration about strategies to increase women’s participation in government. The committee among other things recommended the creation of a Ministry for Women’s Affairs. The ministry did not come into being until 1989 with the establishment of the National Commission for Women supported by Maryam Babangida.