Nigeria’s pioneering Major-General Aderonke Kale (Rtd) passed away on November 8, 2023, at the age of 84 in London.
In 1990, she made history as the first female General in Nigeria and West Africa. In 1994, she further distinguished herself as the first female Major-General in West Africa. Additionally, she served as a psychiatrist and held the distinction of being the first female Commander of the Nigerian Army Medical Corps.
E. O. Okafor, president of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), confirmed her demise on Thursday, expressing the loss as irreparable. Burial arrangements will be announced by her family.
The statement issued by S. K. Usman, former army spokesperson, pays tribute to Major General Aderonke Kale (rtd) mni, highlighting her groundbreaking contributions to Nigeria’s medical and military history. May her soul rest in peace.
Born on July 31, 1939, in England, Kale, a medical doctor trained at the University of Ibadan, specialized in psychiatry at the University of London. After a brief stint in England, she joined the Nigerian army in 1972, steadily rising through the ranks to become a colonel and deputy commander of the Nigerian Army Medical Corps by 1990. In 1994, she attained the rank of major-general, concluding her distinguished military career with retirement in 1997.
Aderonke Kale was married to Oladele Kale, a professor of preventive and social medicine, and was the mother of five sons, including Yemi Kale, the former statistician-general of Nigeria.
