The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to provide female engineers with the opportunity to repair the country’s non-functioning refineries.
During the association’s public lecture and Annual General Meeting in Ikeja, the newly-elected APWEN Lagos Chapter Chairman, Mrs Atinuke Owolabi, made the call. Owolabi assured that the female engineers within the profession could fix the refineries within a year.
She emphasized the importance of empowering indigenous engineers in order to promote development in the country.
Owolabi also highlighted the natural qualities possessed by women, such as being good managers, and suggested that their talents be utilized in the construction of critical infrastructure.
She further urged Nigeria to reduce its reliance on foreign experts and give local engineers the opportunity to showcase their competence.
Owolabi promised that her administration would focus on mentorship and skill development for young engineers, as well as collaborate with other NGOs.
The guest speaker at the event, Mrs Olayinka Abdul, discussed the role of female engineers in building sustainable infrastructure and stressed the need for green alternatives in light of rising fuel prices.
Newly-elected APWEN Lagos Chapter Chairman, Mrs Atinuke Owolabi, made the call during the association’s public lecture and Annual General Meeting in Ikeja.
She said Lagos was investing heavily in renewable energy while listing completed and ongoing interventions in various sectors, including health, education, housing and transportation.
Abdul said the various options available were wasting because some Nigerians have a class mentality not allowing them embrace local researches.
She cited examples of viable technologies, developed by “our forefathers”, being ignored because people want to move with trending foreign technologies.
Abdul advised APWEN to adopt communities and train them on how to generate power from their wastes.
She also enumerated measures female engineers could adopt against work place discrimination and how to receive mentorship from male counterparts without bruising their ego.
Panelists at the event proffered solutions to the multifaceted problem of inadequate water supply in Lagos State.
They enumerated ways mentorship and advocacy could grow capacity of female engineers.
