Babatunji Wusu –
Madam Tinuola Aina, the elder sister of Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, has away at the age of 90.
Madam Aina passed away on November 7, 2023, her family said in a statement released on Tuesday.
According to the notification, Lagos’ funeral ceremonies would begin on Thursday, December 7 with a singing service.
On Friday, December 8, the two-day ceremonies are scheduled to come to an end with a private burial in Lagos.
She was the first of seven children born at Ake Vicarage, Abeokuta, on April 29, 1933, to trader-homemaker Mrs. Grace Eniola Soyinka (neé Harrison), a school teacher, and her husband, Mr. Samuel Ayodele Soyinka.
Tinu began her schooling at Abeokuta Grammar School (AGS), Igbein, after attending St. Peter’s Primary School in the Vicarage.
Tinu traveled for England to pursue her lifelong dream of being a nurse after completing her secondary school at AGS.
Before moving back to Nigeria in 1959, she worked in England for a period after earning her SRN, SEN, and Queens Nurse credentials at South Shield. She joined the Psychiatrist Hospital in Aro, Abeokuta, which was then part of the Western Region.
A few years later, she graduated from North Carolina University in the United States and McGill University in Canada with her first and second degrees in community nursing, respectively. She kept up her employment with the Western Region, initially at Akure General Hospital and then in Abeokuta.
She wed Dr. Kola Aina in 1963, and the two of them were blessed with two children, Oluyomi and Adebiyi.
Later, Mrs. T.A. Aina began working at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) as a member of the Federal Government Service. Ascending the ranks, she was appointed principal of the LUTH Nursing and Midwifery School in 1986, a role she retained until her retirement in 1993. Her impeccable track record demonstrates her dedication to the medical field and her joy in mentoring the next wave of nurses. After retiring, Mrs. Aina entered a new stage of her career and her involvement in the community.
She started an advice clinic at her church, The Christ King’s Church, shortly after retiring. She ran it with two other retired nurses and churchgoers, Mrs. Ajetumobi and Mrs. Olubi, who both died before her. Despite being housed on church property, the clinic is totally free and available to everyone in the community, regardless of faith or creed. She was weak, but up until early this year, she consistently went to the clinic.
The Soyinka family’s matriarch, “Tinu,” was a dedicated, loving, and kind mother, sister, aunt, and cousin. She preserved the family’s unity and left a solid, contented legacy.
