Mabel Segun's 'Treena Kwenta' column ran in the Daily Times from the mid-1970s; the Drum agony column was at its peak between 1972 and 1979. The letters document the wage gap inside marriages, the surge in urban polygyny under oil-boom money, the rise of bride-price inflation, and the specific sexual-health questions that women could not ask their husbands or doctors. The columns are preserved on Archivi.ng and were used as primary source material in Lisa Lindsay's Working with Gender (2003) and Cheikh Anta Babou's recent work on West African urban modernity. The columns also function as an oral history of the 'come-and-go' boyfriends, the Mama Put economy, and the experience of single Nigerian women in the late colonial through Second Republic era.
Societyevent1970 — 1979· Chapter 63
The 1970s Agony-Aunt Letters — Women's Correspondence in the Lagos Press
Across the 1970s Lagos press — Daily Times, Sunday Times, Lagos Weekend, Drum (Nigeria edition) — agony-aunt columns by 'Aunty Eki', 'Dear Toyin' and 'Treena Kwenta' (Mabel Segun) carried thousands of letters from Nigerian women. Read together, they are the most candid surviving record of marriage, sex, work, polygamy and oil-boom money pressure of the decade.
Era context
The political and economic reality
The government(s), economy and national reality across the period 1970–1979.
Head of State · Military
Gen. Yakubu Gowon
1966–1975
National reality
Counter-coup of July 1966, Biafran War (1967–70), then the oil-boom expansion. Twelve-state structure (1967) replaced the four regions. Three Rs (Reconciliation, Reconstruction, Rehabilitation) and indigenisation began.
Crises of the period
- Biafran Civil War 1967–70 (1–3 million dead)
- 1973 OPEC oil shock + boom
- FESTAC '77 preparations
GDP (World Bank)
$12.5 bn (1970) → $27.7 bn (1975, oil boom)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
- Finance (Commissioner)
Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1967–71)
- Education (Commissioner)
A.Y. Eke (c.1967)
Federal Executive Council of commissioners; full roster being compiled.
Sources · Federal Military Government records · World Bank WDI
Head of State · Military
Gen. Murtala Muhammed → Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo
1975–1979
National reality
Murtala assassinated 13 February 1976; Obasanjo completed the transition. Universal Primary Education launched 1976. Land Use Act 1978. 1979 Constitution and handover to the Second Republic.
Crises of the period
- Dimka coup attempt + Murtala assassination (1976)
- 'Ali Must Go' student protests (1978) — students killed over a 50-kobo fee increase
GDP (World Bank)
$28 bn (1975) → $47 bn (1979)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
- Education
Col. Ahmadu Ali (1975–78)
- Education
J.O.J. Okezie (1978)
Sources · Federal Gazette · Constitution Drafting Committee records (1976–78)
President · Second Republic
Alhaji Shehu Shagari
1979–1983· NPN
National reality
First executive presidency. Oil-price crash from 1981 destroyed the boom. Ghana Must Go expulsion of West African migrants (1983). Disputed re-election in 1983, then the Buhari/Idiagbon coup on 31 December 1983.
Crises of the period
- Oil price collapse 1981–83
- Maitatsine riots Kano (1980)
- Ghana Must Go (1983)
- 31 December 1983 coup
GDP (World Bank)
$64 bn (1980, oil peak) → $30 bn (1983, bust)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
- Finance
Sunday Essang → Onaolapo Soleye
- Education
Sylvester Ugoh; later others (being compiled)
Sources · Federal Gazette 1979–83 · CBN Annual Reports
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.