Ore Green: The Lagos Pioneer Who Became West Africa’s First Female Pharmacist in 1916

Oreoluwa “Ore” Green made history in 1916 as West Africa’s first female pharmacist after qualifying through the Pharmaceutical Society of London. Born in Lagos in 1885, she pursued higher education at a time when few African women had access to professional training. Green studied music and midwifery in London before earning her pharmaceutical qualification and working as a dispenser at Soho Eye and Ear Hospital. She returned to Lagos in 1917 and worked as a midwife at Dr. Richard Akinwande Savage’s hospital. During the 1920s, she established a nursing and pharmacy practice at 71 Campbell Street, Lagos. Known to many as Nurse Green, she helped prove that Nigerian women could thrive in medicine and other professions then dominated by men.

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