Experts have called on the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) to promote research and advance professionalism in engineering practice.
They also advised them to harness the capacity of women and contribute to national development.
The President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Tasiu Saa’d Gidari-Wudil, who led the charge at the investiture of APWEN 17th president, Elizabeth Eterigho in Lagos, pointed out that Eterigho’s success will be measured in the outputs of research and development.
According to him, people expect constructive contributions aimed at assisting political leadership to surmount the challenges of development in the country.
He said: “There is no end to seeking knowledge for better performance, it is against this backdrop that I urge all divisions and Institutions to prioritise capacity building for us to also showcase expertise and make advancement in our fields of specialisation.
“I urge the new leadership to work towards superseding the achievements of previous administrations, be it in the area of capacity building or in advocacies. APWEN under the leadership of Eterigho must improve on networking with other stakeholders, innovations and a huge quantum of resourcefulness that will help the association to make indelible marks.”
The NSE president assured the body of running inclusive administration, where every member of NSE will have a voice and solicit APWEN’s support and cooperation to enable his administration to deliver on the agenda.
In her inaugural address, Eterigho said her administration would focus on professional and entrepreneurship development for members as well as continue with the programme ‘invent, build it’ in states in the six geopolitical zones.
She plans to establish collaboration with SHELL to promote North Daughters’ mentorship programme, set up Tech4Mom, FunStem schemes and trade skills for girls as well as shetech2preneur and other initiatives.
The APWEN president said the association would ensure professional development through workshops, seminars and conferences on training and retraining of members to achieve professional excellence, particularly in software development and application.
” APWEN will make deliberate efforts to exploit opportunities for sponsorships that are reserved exclusively for women, particularly from multinationals and international organisations to enhance the development and application of our professional skills,” she said.
The keynote speaker, who is the chairman, Access Bank Plc, Dr. Aoritsedere Awosika, said no country could succeed without the contribution of women. She challenged the female engineers on the sustainability of Nigeria’s development, which is dependent on the contributions of women engineers.
She encouraged them to be conscious of the demand for engineers globally to close the gender gap.
“The Federal government must deliberately include more women in projects to drive the National Development Programme. APWEN must target reducing unemployment through programmes, promote development opportunities across states and councils as well as ensure accountability and transparency in all its programmes,” she said.
Also speaking, a former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, lamented that despite a large number of registered engineers in Nigeria, the majority of engineering jobs are given to foreigners.
He blamed the development on the lack of political will by those in authority.
He, therefore, charged leaders to utilise the local engineering expertise of male and female engineers, who he described as highly competent to achieve national development.
Earlier, the immediate past president of APWEN, Funmilola Ojelade, commended APWEN family for the successes recorded during her tenure.
The forum featured the presentation of awards and recognition to Dr. Awosika, father of the day, Olusegun Mimiko, mother of the day, Olayemi Bamgboye, Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Executive Secretary, FCDA, Shehu Hadi Ahmad, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Abdullahi Bala, Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and others.
