Anike Agbaje-Williams (née Kuforiji; 23 October 1936 – 26 February 2025) was a Nigerian newsreader who was the first female television staff announcer and broadcaster in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Life and career

Anike Kuforiji was born in

Abeokuta Abeokuta is the capital city of Ogun State located at the south western part of Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna; north of Lagos by railway, or by water. , Abeokut ...

on 23 October 1936. Her father was of Egba heritage. She spent her primary school and junior secondary school years in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

under the care of her guardian, Mrs Gbemisola Rosiji, wife of Ayo Rosiji, and Bishop and Mrs S. C. Philips. She attended CMS Girls School, Lagos. In 1950, when CMS Girls School was relocated to

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

and renamed St Anne's School, she moved with the school and finished her education in Ibadan. After completing secondary school education, she was hired by the

Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation The Voice of Nigeria or VON ( Yoruba: ; Hausa: ; Igbo: ; Fula: ) is the official international broadcasting station of Nigeria. History Founded in 1961, the Voice of Nigeria began as the External Service of the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corpo ...

Ikoyi Ikoyi is the most affluent neighborhood of Lagos, located in Eti-Osa Local Government Area. It lies to the northeast of Obalende and adjoins Lagos Island to the west, and at the edge of the Lagos Lagoon. Popular with the extreme upper class r ...

, Lagos, in 1955. One day, a colleague who usually did announcements or read small bits of information on the radio did not show up, and the current host then asked her to take his place. When the supervisor heard Agbaje-Williams's voice, he was impressed, and then asked her to join the programmes department as a staff announcer. When a television station was established at Ibadan, she was asked to interview and was subsequently given a job at the station. Agbaje-Williams was a pioneer staff of WNTV, which was the first television station in Nigeria. She was the first person to appear on television broadcast in the country, and was the first female broadcaster of the station. She rose to become a producer and director of programmes at the television station before retiring in 1986. Agbaje-Williams died in Ibadan on 26 February 2025, at the age of 88.

Awards and recognition

* Lifetime Achievement Award, Nigerian Broadcasters Awards (2011) * Rockcity Golden Voice Award (2014) * 2017 Heroes Award, Ibadan Mesiogo Golf Open Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agbaje-Williams, Anike 1936 births 2025 deaths 20th-century Nigerian journalists 20th-century Nigerian women 20th-century women journalists History of women in Nigeria Nigerian broadcasters Nigerian radio journalists Nigerian television presenters Nigerian women journalists People from Abeokuta St Anne's School, Ibadan alumni Television personalities from Lagos