Obituary: Nomthi Odukoya – The passionate advocate and teacher who championed relentless campaign against child abuse 

Nomthi Simangele Rosemary Odukoya was an exceptional life coach, educationist, writer and a passionate child advocate who relentlessly campaigned against any form of child abuse,

The Fountain of Life Church, where she was an Associate Senior Pastor to her husband, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, said she was “a born dancer, a grateful spirit, a joyful soul, and if dance was a person, her name would be Nomthi.” 

Tolu Odukoya-Ijogun, her step-daughter, described her as “a beautiful light, an authentic Christian and a woman that truly loved God.” 

A statement by Pastor Odukoya and the church announcing Nomthi’s death on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, said she “battled cancer for the better part of two years, she stood on the Word of God, and she fought.”

The news of her death stumped many Nigerians. It shattered many hearts across the Nigerian Christian community, coming 16 years after Pastor Odukoya lost his first wife, Pastor Bimbo Odukoya, in a Sosoliso plane crash while heading to Port Harcourt from Abuja on December 10, 2005.

Bimbo was a famous televangelist, teacher and marriage counsellor who became a national phenomenon in the early 2000s through her television programme ‘Single and Married’, which was broadcast locally and internationally. Many have argued that Bimbo’s teachings popularised the Fountain of Life Church, especially with young pentecostal Christians.

Pastor Nomthi was born on May 30, 1974, in Pinetown, an industrial centre in Durban, South Africa. She was from the Zulu ethnic group, the largest ethnic group in South Africa with an estimated 10–12 million people.

She had a Higher Diploma in Education from Natal College of Education in South Africa in 1999. She bagged a master in Global Human Resources Management from the University of Liverpool in 2012.

At the time of her birth and during her youth, fierce political violence was unfolding in South Africa, and it was one of the major events that shaped her childhood. The apartheid legislation birthed the violence in South Africa from the late 1940s to the early 1990s, which created racial segregation and economic and political discrimination between whites and non-white South Africans. A report by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) on November 19, 1990, said 10 people were being killed every day in South Africa in political violence. The SAIRR said the total number of deaths from September 1984 to October 31, 1990, was 8,577. 

Although the United Nations denounced the apartheid system in 1973, a year before Nomthi’s birth, she told Punch newspaper in 2017, “I was in boarding school during the apartheid in South Africa, so I really didn’t witness the killings. However, our lectures were sometimes disrupted by the crisis. The situation got better when the late Nelson Mandela came out of prison and was voted president in 1994.”

Frederik Willem de Klerk, South Africa’s last apartheid president who repealed most of the apartheid legislation, died on Thursday, November 11, 2021, two days after Nomthi’s death.

Nomthi was a passionate child advocate, and until her death, she championed campaigns against child abuse. This passion prodded her to take up a job as a teacher in South Africa; she also taught at Ekujabuleni in Pinetown, where she was born before moving to the United Kingdom, where she worked as a Life Coach at Risley Avenue Primary School in London for three years between 2005 and 2008.

It was in the United Kingdom that Nomthi met Pastor Odukoya, but she said when “he came to minister at Triumphant Church International, London where I worshipped,” she never envisioned marrying a pastor and the man who became her husband and father of her two boys.

“Like every other minister that had come before him, I saw him as a man of God. I found his message amazing and absorbing. I even bought one of his books – Home Affairs,” she said in an interview. “After the conference, my pastor told me someone was interested in me. I declined because I was seeing someone then. The relationship eventually did not work out, and I informed my pastor but not immediately. To cut the long story short, Pastor Taiwo had a stopover in London, and that was the first time we met. Before then, my pastor had given him my telephone number, and he had called me. When he proposed to me, I did not like the idea of getting married to a widower. I took my time, prayed about it, and I became convinced it was what God wanted for me.”

Odukoya and Nomthi got married on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, at the Civic Centre, in Victoria Island, Lagos. Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), who was a spiritual father to Bimbo Odukoya during her lifetime, officiated the wedding ceremony. 

As soon as she settled in Nigeria, Nomthi became the go-to person for many adults willing to share their horrific child abuse stories, and she helped many get help.

As part of her relentless campaign against any form of child abuse, Nomthi founded Funda Wazi (learn and know in her native Zulu language) Foundation. Through Funda Wazi, she championed the course of young people and provided child-friendly resources and training to equip children and adults to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing.

“When I first started doing this work [advocating against child abuse], I didn’t know that many people had gone through it because nobody talked about it but the minute I came up to talk about it in church, and we just opened up an opportunity for people to talk about it to come up if they went through it to shame the devil instead of them being ashamed of what they went through,” Nomthi said in a YouTube series ‘Relationships with Adenyke’ in June 2021. “It was amazing to see the number of people who came up to say they went through this. A majority of them said they had never spoken about it to anyone. These are adults, some of them married parents.”

Aside from helping people who have been abused to get help and advocating against abuses among children, Nomthi was also committed to entrepreneurial development and empowerment of underprivileged people and communities across Nigeria through the Fountain Initiative for Social Development, where she was Chairperson.

Through her authored children’s books – “No! Don’t touch me there”, “A bully is not a Hero”, “Help they are fighting again” and “Boys and Girls are different but equal”, Nomthi empowered children to confront any form of abuse or social ills.

Nomthi never lost touch with her South African roots until her death. On several occasions and church service, she would rock the Zulu ‘Isicholo’, a traditional bucket hat common among the Zulu people.

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021, the Fountain of Life Church announced that Nomthi had lost a two-year battle with cancer, a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“We prayed, stood in faith with you that you will pull through this battle with cancer. Yet God wanted you home,” Nike Adeyemi, wife of the Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Center, wrote in a tribute.

Several accounts by the Fountain of Life Church members confirmed that Nomthi was also a prominent figure in the church’s children department.

“In the minds of many children and parents at Fountain of Life, your fond memories of serving in the children’s ministry remain a cherished memory,” Adewunmi Oyeduntan wrote.

In death, many believe Nomthi’s legacy and impact in Nigeria and other parts of the world will take years to wane.

Since Nomthi Odukoya’s death was announced on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, family, friends, associates, and those her works and teachings have inspired have continued to share fond memories and pay tributes to her.

Tolu Odukoya-Ijogun described her as a beautiful light, an authentic Christian and a Woman that truly loved God.

“You were such a fighter; Cancer didn’t win; God wanted you all to himself and called you home,” she wrote. “To say we will miss you is an understatement.”

Jimmy Odukoya, a Nollywood actor and Pastor Odukoya’s son, said “the pain we feel Pastor Nomthi is for us who you leave behind, for we will miss you.”

Nomthi, who died five months after her 47th birthday, is survived by her husband, two sons – Timilehin and Jomiloju, and stepchildren.

“She gave me 11 beautiful years of marriage, and two wonderful boys, who I know will be very significant in life,” a heartbroken Odukoya said in a statement.

Damiloa Lewis, Pastor Odukoya’s Executive Assistant, described Nomthi’s death as totally unbelievable.

“You not only talked the talk, but you also walked the talk and fought hard. You won the battle over pain, and now you are singing with the angels,” she wrote.

At Nomthi’s night of tributes on Monday, November 29, 2021, Ibukun Awosika, former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and a Pastor at Fountain of Life Church, described her as the perfect replacement to Pastor Bimbo Odukoya and said she didn’t try to be taller or bigger than anyone.

“She didn’t try to occupy anybody’s space. She never for one minute competed with Pastor Bimbo Odukoya. She came with a talent and ability to find a space. More cheerful than you can imagine,” Awosika said.

Nomthi was buried on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, after a funeral service at the Fountain of Life Church in Ilupeju, Lagos.