IKEJA (PRECISE POST) – It was a moment of pride and celebration as people from all works of life gathered to honour a shining star, Mrs Regina Amankulor.
On Saturday, 28 March 2026, the Ford Foundation, in partnership with Zenith Bank, recognised 19 outstanding women with the Woman of Power Award at The Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Precise Post recalls that the celebration themed “Celebrating Resilience, Leadership, and Generosity,” honours women who have demonstrated remarkable strength and excelled despite the numerous challenges imposed by a patriarchal society such as Nigeria’s.
According to the organisers, the initiative serves as “an opportunity to showcase the unsung ‘Sheroes’ in Nigeria who have made an impact as leaders in their fields.” These include market women, small-scale business owners, community leaders, educators, healthcare workers, and other deserving women whose contributions often go unnoticed.
The Ford Foundation noted that each awardee “exhibited excellence in several areas, including leadership and initiative, community impact, innovativeness and resourcefulness, perseverance, integrity, community trust, and philanthropy.”
Mrs Regina Amankulor of Umuode-Nsulu Community in Isiala Ngwa North LGA, Abia State, met every criterion. Sons, wives, and daughters of Umuode-Nsulu gathered in full force to celebrate her.
Citation: Mrs Regina Amankulor – Retired Nurse, Umuode Nsulu, Abia State
Mrs Regina Amankulor is a retired nurse now living in her husband’s village in Abia State. In the 1980s, she and her husband—a Professor of English Literature at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka—along with their three young children, left Nigeria for a Fulbright scholarship awarded to her husband at New York University. Within a few years of arriving in the United States, Professor James Ndukaku Amankulo passed away from a brain tumour, leaving Regina to raise their children alone.
Mrs Amankulor earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in psychology.
Undeterred, she worked relentlessly to qualify as a nurse and raise her three sons single-handedly.
Today, one is a neurosurgeon and Director of the Penn Brain Tumour Centre at the University of Pennsylvania, another is a lawyer in Los Angeles, and the third is a merchant marine.
About seven years ago, Mrs Amankulor retired from nursing and returned to her husband’s village in Nigeria. Since then, she has established several businesses, including a bakery and a sachet water factory, which employ local youth. All profits from these ventures go directly into a personal scholarship fund she created.
This fund has supported numerous young people from the village by covering their secondary school and university tuition fees. She also insists that scholarship recipients learn practical life skills, so during holidays she enrols them in courses such as tailoring, carpentry, and other trades.
Additionally, she has set up a fishery on her property and is actively engaged in agriculture—all to ensure that young people have a place to work and learn how to earn a decent living outside formal education and professional careers. Every business she runs is aimed at helping others.
Apart from her personal philanthropy, Mrs Amankulor motivates members of the village diaspora in the United States to support those less fortunate at home. As a highly active member of the Umuode Development Association during her time in the US, she was a trusted ally who ensured that all donated funds reached those most in need.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped coordinate the distribution of food and other relief supplies to over 50 needy families in the village, using funds donated by her fellow villagers in the United States.
Mrs Amankulor’s nomination powerfully illustrates how one person can make a profound impact despite early life challenges. Her story is a testament to the resilience, strength, and generosity of women everywhere.
