Asi Archibong-Arikpo

Archibong-Arikpo was the head of a maternity hospital in Ugep, Nigeria, for two years. Archibong-Arikpo also pursued a career in fashion design. In 1963, she said she was working on a national bridal dress for Nigeria.^[2] Her gowns were often blue and gold, colors she associated with the Presbyterian Church. She sold her dresses to raise funds for church mission activities.^[1]

In 1969, she was ordained as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria. In 1975, she was elected president of the Presbyterian Women's Guild in Nigeria, a role she filled until 1982. As a politician, she was elected to the Calabar Municipal Council in 1977, and served in the Cross River State legislature from 1979 to 1983.^[1]

She visited the United States with her husband in 1963 and spoke to reporters about her own work as an midwife and designer.^[2] She went to North America again in 1969, with her husband, who was addressing the United Nations.^[3]

For her lifetime of diverse achievements, she was honored with a chieftaincy in 1975, and named "National Grandmother" by the Christian Girls in Training in 1990.^[1]

Asi Archibong met Okoi Arikpo in London when he was a doctoral student; they married in London in 1950. They had a daughter, Itam. Asi Archibong-Arikpo was widowed when her husband died in 1995. She died ten years later, at age 86.^[1]