By SUMAILA OGBAJE

The President, Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), Amb. Emmanuel Okafor, has mourned the passing of the first female Major General in the Nigerian Army, Aderonke Kale.

Okafor, in a statement by the Publicity Secretary of AANI, retired Maj.-Gen. Sani Usman, in Abuja, described the late Kale as an outstanding elder stateswoman and member of AANI.

Late retired Maj.-Gen. Kale, a medical doctor, passed on at the age of 84.

He said the late general was a pioneer in the military profession in Nigeria, where she distinguished herself by rising to the top of the profession.

“She was the first female Major General in the Nigerian Army and the first to command the Nigerian Army Medical Corps.

“She trained as a medical doctor at University College, which later became the University of Ibadan. Kale then specialized in psychiatry at the University of London.

“She was inspired to pursue psychiatry by Thomas Adeoye Lambo, Africa’s first professor of psychiatry. She worked briefly in Britain and returned to Nigeria in 1971 and joined the Nigerian army in 1972.

“This was a very rare decision for women in those days, particularly those at such a high professional level.

“Major-.Gen. Kale has been a trailblazer and an achiever. She took up the challenge of aspiring to the top and succeeded in exercising leadership in a world still dominated by men,” he said. (NAN)