Chief Yinka Norman Williams, a foremost pharmacist in the country and the Agbaalu of Lagos, clocked 90 yesterday. In a brief chat with OLAWUNMI OJO, she reflects on her journey through life, saying 'life has been good.'YESTERDAY, Chief (Mrs.) Yinka Norman Williams turned 90. And although the celebrations were somewhat low keyed, it did not fail to draw a select pool from the creme of the society to honour her. For her, the occasion was another opportunity to offer thanksgiving to God who has continued to engrace her with 'good long life'. But much more than that, for friends and family who gathered, it was yet an occasion to celebrate the life of an amazon who rose beyond the domain of commonality that characterised her youth to attain a tall status and as well as live a coIourful life.The fifth of an all-girls family of six children, the societal and well-sung handicaps of femininity were stacked high against her. But young Yinka would not submit to any of such. She was determined to give her all to rise above the glass ceiling and attain the utopian heights marked on her young and impressionable mind.She had sights on becoming a medical doctor and knew what it would take her. She needed to study hard to show herself approved. She was ready to compete not just against the best, but also against societal standards. And so, quite early in life, she set out with a determination to establish the vast possibilities of womanhood.Capturing her life through the times, Mrs Williams who is ageing gracefully, says she is a self-made woman who through vision, hardwork and living the good principles of life, paid the price for having a distinct existence.Born to the late Barrister Omoleye Coker (Esq.) who was quite enlightened as not to subscribe to the pervasive discrimination against the girl child in those early times, young Yinka attended Methodist Girls' High School Yaba and later CMS Girls School, both in Lagos to complete her secondary education.However, to study Medicine, which was her choice, she needed to travel abroad since there were no universities yet in Nigeria. But given that her elder sister had just been sponsored abroad for her education, her father could not bear the immediate cost of having to sponsor another child. So, she was told in clear terms to wait.But Yinka would not have any of such delay; not after she had come out with the best of grades. She settled for Pharmacy, for which she could easily be trained here at home. Off she went to the School of Pharmacy in Yaba in 1940. 'At that time, the government started the Yaba Higher College for people wanting to study medicine and pharmacy. I was the only girl in my class, and only two girls had qualified before me,' she recounts.On qualifying, she did not work anywhere. Rather, she chose to start a family. 'I qualified in September and got married in December. The following year when my dad was ready to sponsor me abroad, I said he could see I was already married and started having children. I said that I would wait until my husband was ready to go for his study leave so that we would go together.'Eventually, she traveled to the United Kingdom at a time the British government was looking for qualified pharmacists to employ due to the dearth of pharmacists. So after qualifying, she was employed and worked for the first time for the British government at Kennedy Black Chemist Limited on King John's road, London.But Williams would not spend too much time in the employ of the British, as she later resigned to join her husband in Edinburgh, Scotland. There she was until her return to Nigeria in 1952.On getting to Nigeria, there was also a shortage of pharmacists. She joined the federal government and worked at the General Hospital, Lagos for three years. Unknown to her while she signing the papers, the conditions of service did not entitle her to job leave. And after working for three years with her applications for leave rejected a couple of times, she tendered her resignation letter and resolved to go into private practice, which she was already doing on part time basis.Hearing of her action, her employers pleaded that her letter be withdrawn and that she proceeds on a three-month leave. She did. But while on leave, she exploited fully the opportunities available in private practice. And two months on, she realised she could make within minutes the 20 she was getting as salary. That led her to resign finally and marked the birth of Yinka Coker Mile End Chemist Limited. She had a good time blazing the trail in retail and much later, wholesale pharmacy practice. Today, though retired, she still maintains her pharmaceutical outfits.At 90, Williams, looking back at the journey through life, says it has though not been easy. 'It is usually not easy for anybody. I had my ups and downs but went through them joyfully, I have always been very happy with myself and had a happy family, so I have a lot to thank God for.'I thank God that I am able to be an independent woman, which I teach my two children. I have always told them the story of my father whose parents died when he was just four. He had to be brought up at his uncle's place yet he was successful in life as an international trader and before getting trained later in England as a lawyer. I copied the same thing; without relying on anybody, I aimed for the best in life and got it. So I say to the young ones: 'You don't have to rely on anybody in this world. You have all you need to make your bed and lie on it'.As one of the first female pharmacists in Nigeria, she was like a model to a lot of young girls who approached her in droves seeking advice on how to take after her. And she always had homilies to give them. 'I always warned them that you have to make up your mind whether you want to be a career pharmacist because as a career pharmacist, you have to be ready to give your all.'Commenting on adulteration and other sharp practices that later set into the manufacture of drugs, the fellow of the pharmaceutical society of Nigeria (PSN) expressed sadness and shock that Nigerians could venture into such without respect for human lives which they put at risk.While lauding the efforts of the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and control (NAFDAC) thus far in the battle against the manufacture and importation of counterfeit and substandard drugs, she however expressed grave concern for the manner most pharmacies still sell drugs to people without prescription.'We must stop our greed and crave for money; I believe this is what pushes the qualified ones to engage the quacks in perpetrating this ignominious act,' she says.
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