In the past few weeks, some Nigerian women have been on the spotlight for breaking records and achieving great successes in professions known, hitherto, to be male-dominated.
From music to sports, it has been a huge round of congratulations with the recent back-to-back wins from these outstanding women.
In this article, The West African Pilot beams the laser on four resilient women who have gained massive popularity for their international milestones.
Tems
Since she set out with her melodious track entitled, Try Me in 2019, Temilade Openiyi, the Nigerian singer and songwriter known professionally as Tems, has continued to be the leading vibe, making everyone proud with her never-ending achievements.
Her collaboration with Ayodeji Balogun, known as Wizkid, on Essence, a track off his 2021 Made In Lagos album, earned her a Grammy award nomination, and her career has been firing on since then.
Tems’ achievements in 2022 include a feature on the soundtrack of Marvel Studio’s latest production, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as well as being the first-ever female African artiste to win BET’s Best International Act; also nominated for the Best New Artiste award and first ever African artiste (alongside Wizkid) to win the Best Collaboration award.
Currently, Tems is topping US Billboard Hot 100 chart as she becomes the first African artist to have five entries on the world chart, as well as the Nigerian with the most entries.
This is coming with her recent affiliation with Beyoncé, an American singer, on a single entitled, Move, the tenth track off Beyoncé’s album, Renaissance, as one of the songwriters.
Apparently, Tems seems to be the most sought-after female singer in Africa. In 2021, she was featured by Canadian rapper and singer Drake in the song, Fountain. American singer, Future also featured her in his 2022 song, Wait for You.
Tobi Amusan
Now called Nigeria’s golden girl, Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan made headlines on all social media platforms after breaking a world record in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the just concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
She cemented her place in history as the greatest Nigerian athlete of all time (at least for now), storming her way to a second consecutive Commonwealth Games title, winning the gold medal in women’s 100m hurdles.
It is not just that, she also successfully defended her title, and took down Jamaica’s Brigitte Foster-Hylton’s 2009 games record of 12.65s, shaving off more than three-tenths of a second to run a new record of 12.30s (-0.2).
She also led the Nigerian team to win the 4x100m women’s relay with a new African record of 42.10 second.
Amusan is a one-time world champion, two-time African champion, three-time Commonwealth Games winner, one-time African U20 champion, the current African record holder in 100mH, 4x100m, among others.
Ese Brume
Ese Brume maintained her enviable record of getting a medal in every tournament where she has represented Nigeria by winning gold for Nigeria in the women’s long jump at the just concluded 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The three-time African senior champion leapt 7.00 metres to win gold and set a new Commonwealth Games record.
By winning gold in Birmingham, Brume, 26, reclaimed the Commonwealth Games long jump title.
Brume first won the title in 2014 but was unavoidably absent in the Gold Coast, Australia four years ago to defend her title.
With a World Athletics Championships silver last month in Oregon, USA, Brume returned to the Commonwealth Games stage with just one thing on her mind: to reclaim her title, and she did it breaking the 6.97m Games record held by Australia’s Bronwyn Thompson twice.
Brume is a two-time Commonwealth Games winner, three-time African champion, one-time All-African Games winner, and current African record holder in long jump, among others.
Asisat Oshoala
Last month, Super Falcon’s striker, Asisat Oshoala, won a record-setting African Women’s Player of the Year award at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards ceremony held in Rabat, Morocco.
It was Oshoala’s fifth time being named the best player on the continent by the African football governing body, a feat no other female player on the continent has ever accomplished.
The 27-year-old Barcelona forward was also, last Friday, nominated for the 2022 Ballon d’Or award following her stellar season with Barcelona Femini in the Spanish League.
Oshoala scored 20 goals in just 19 games to share the top scorer award with Geyse Ferreira who played for Madrid CFF last season but is now a teammate of Oshoala.
With her name on the elite 20-woman list, Oshoala becomes the first female African player to get Ballon d’Or nomination.
To be sure, her list of individual honours is massive. They include the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year award (2015), Queen of The Pitch Award (2014), African Women’s Footballer of the Year (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022), African Women’s Youth Player of the Year (2014), African Women’s Championship Golden Ball (2014), African Women’s Championship Golden Boot (2016), FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Golden Boot (2014), FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Golden Ball (2014), Primera División Top scorer (2021–22), Chinese Women’s Super League Top scorer: (2017), IFFHS CAF Best Woman Player of the Decade (2011–2020), IFFHS CAF Woman Team of the Decade (2011–2020) and Nigeria Women’s Most Valuable Player of the Season (2020).
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