A significant figure in Nigerian art and education, Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu began her career as a teacher in missionary schools, using art to facilitate communication among students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. A colonial government scholarship enabled her to study at Chelsea School of Art in London, where she earned a diploma in design and painting, followed by a teaching diploma from the University of London.

Upon returning home, she became the first Nigerian to teach at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria (later Ahmadu Bello University). Between 1955 and 1964, she trained a generation of artists, including Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yusuf Grillo, and Erhabor Emokpae, who later formed the Zaria Art Society, known for rejecting European artistic approaches and developing a uniquely Nigerian art canon.

In 1958, Ugbodaga-Ngu became the first Nigerian woman to hold a solo exhibition in London at the Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery.