Helen Ovbiagele

Helen Ovbiagele (born 1944) is a Nigerian novelist. She was born in Benin City, and after attending C.M.S. Girls' School, Benin City, and St. Peter's College, Kaduna, she studied English and French at the University of Lagos and studied at the Institut Français du Royaume-Uni in London. Her work is associated with the romance genre, published in Macmillan's hugely popular Pacesetter Novels series, but her heroines are said to be a bit older and more independent than normal for that form. She was the Woman Editor of the Vanguard newspaper for 30 years.

Quotes

• In those early days of ‘cut and paste’, newspaper production was rigorous, and it was frustrating when the work you submitted came out with flaws when published. I used to get all worked up when my articles were messed up because I felt that the reading public would question my ability to write good English.
  • Helen speaking on how early days in vanguard was like

• My dream for the VANGUARD is that it will continue to be refreshingly different from other publications, and go on working towards a better life for the people, until the masses are liberated from all the suffering and hardships in present day Nigeria.
  • Helen's goodwill message for the vanguard 40th anniversary.

• Parading girls who dumped their babies might make the offenders remorseful or shame-faced but it isn't going to stop the practice for desperate girls with unwanted babies, just like jail terms haven't stopped criminal activities or even reduced them.
• We should reprimand seriously, girls who dump their babies, but there's no need to expose them to public ridicule, increasing their pain and humiliation.
  • Helen decring the practice of parading desperate young mothers who had abandoned their babies.

• Consider the trauma of their nine-month ordeal of unsupported pregnancy, and the agony of secret childbirth. Obviously, they must have delivered their baby themselves under unsafe conditions and environments. They should receive medical attention to ensure that their womb and all things connected with childbirth are in order.
  • On the need for rehabilitation, not humiliation.

• No matter how you package the concept of living together before marriage, it cannot be right for the society. We shouldn't ape the permissiveness and decadence of the western world. The old values of strict moral values which we're struggling to uphold here, are still the best for the institution of marriage.
  • Tracking how Westernization reshaped local relationships.

• If women want to be respected by the world, they will have to do more to uplift their image themselves. They shouldn’t feel that because they rear children for the world and keep homes, they are entitled to respect, irrespective of their own behaviour and character.
  • Helen on women and self-respect.