The Trumpet Newspaper Issue 524 (July 29 - August 11 2020)
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People<br />
JULY <strong>29</strong> - AUGUST <strong>11</strong> <strong>2020</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Engr Funmilola Ojelade - Creating a<br />
revolution of Women Engineers<br />
Page<strong>11</strong><br />
Continued from Page 10<<br />
them in the offices doing work that may<br />
not be engineering at all. But that has<br />
changed over the years. So, we can say that<br />
their efforts have paid off. Of course, we<br />
still have instances of such coming up once<br />
and again but we would always encourage<br />
our women to prove their worth through<br />
hard work. And as we continue to impact<br />
lives through our programmes, more<br />
women engineers are signing up and<br />
joining the train.<br />
Your first official engagement as the<br />
new President was to Osun State where<br />
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola<br />
described you as a “national role model”<br />
How do you hope to live up to that<br />
expectation especially for Osun people<br />
and the nation in general?<br />
We will continue to take our<br />
programmes to inspire the girl-child to<br />
study engineering round the six geopolitical<br />
zones of the Federation and I will<br />
be leading the charge. We will be<br />
mentoring a lot of young female engineers;<br />
we will be training STEM teachers in<br />
virtually every State of the Federation. A<br />
number of these programmes will be held<br />
in Osun State. We will attract<br />
multinationals to the State of Osun; our<br />
programmes will bring commerce to the<br />
State.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is a perception that women<br />
committees and organisations end up in<br />
squabbles and fight for supremacy, and<br />
all other myths. APWEN has been going<br />
for 37 years. What is the secret to her<br />
success and what do you have planned<br />
to keep it progressing for the next<br />
President and generation?<br />
I believe we’ve been able to wade<br />
through that common perception because<br />
professionalism is what binds us and our<br />
vision to increase the numerical strength of<br />
practicing female engineers drives us. This<br />
what can be delegated so that I can make<br />
room for what cannot be delegated.<br />
APWEN has visited 7 States in<br />
Nigeria, are there plans to visit more or<br />
all the remaining <strong>29</strong> States during your<br />
tenure?<br />
APWEN has visited 7 states under the<br />
Invent It, Build It programme. Other<br />
APWEN programmes have taken us to<br />
virtually every State in the country and we<br />
will continue to do this.<br />
Does APWEN have any project for<br />
women who have not been fortunate to<br />
go into education for various reasons.<br />
Do these women have any role to play<br />
within the engineering community no<br />
matter how small?<br />
Our vision is primarily to be the<br />
catalyst for advancement of women in the<br />
engineering profession towards national<br />
and global technological development and<br />
to increase the number of practicing female<br />
engineers. So, we tailor our programmes in<br />
that direction. Although we have organised<br />
programmes involving women in rural<br />
communities: we had a tree planting<br />
competition in Abuja some years back and<br />
engaged women in rural communities for<br />
the project. But there were educated<br />
women among them because the<br />
programme was for women.<br />
What would your legacy for<br />
APWEN be after your tenure?<br />
I’ll like to be remembered for the<br />
impact I make in building the capacity of<br />
young engineers to make them fit for the<br />
industry.<br />
Your predecessor - Engr Felicia<br />
Agubata introduced the highly<br />
successful “Invent It, Build It“ project<br />
sponsored by the NNPC, how do you<br />
hope to build on that?<br />
Engr. Agubata did a fantastic job<br />
introducing that programme. Thanks to her<br />
vision, we will experience a revolution of<br />
girls opting for a career in engineering in<br />
the not too distant future. <strong>The</strong> SheEngineer<br />
that I spoke about earlier which we just<br />
started, was also incubated by her. It is a<br />
programme for Secondary School girls and<br />
builds on the “Invent It, Build It”<br />
programme.<br />
So, we will continue with the “Invent<br />
It, Build It” programme and continue to<br />
generate engineer girls. <strong>The</strong>n, we will<br />
introduce our holiday technical boot camp<br />
programmes in the locations where we<br />
have the scholarship awardees of the Invent<br />
It, Build It programme. We will ensure that<br />
the awardees participate in these holiday<br />
events. Purpose is to keep our vision for<br />
them alive and ensure that they are<br />
continually inspired to study engineering.<br />
Is Engineering as a course offered in<br />
both public and private Nigerian<br />
universities fit for purpose? If not, what<br />
are your suggestions for improvement?<br />
<strong>The</strong> universities have their challenges,<br />
especially inadequate funding for research,<br />
poorly equipped laboratories and<br />
workshops, and of course, obsolete<br />
curriculum. Improvement can start from<br />
updating the curriculum. Use what is<br />
practiced in industries now to explain the<br />
engineering concepts to the students. <strong>The</strong><br />
universities can also partner with industries<br />
who can sponsor some research and they<br />
can use those funds to equip their<br />
laboratories.<br />
How do you see gender diversity in<br />
the work place, in the engineering sector<br />
and the boardroom?<br />
Women continue to be underrepresented<br />
in boardrooms and at all levels<br />
of political leadership. According to United<br />
Nations data, about 27% of managerial<br />
positions in the world were occupied by<br />
women in 2018; women representation in<br />
national parliaments is an average of<br />
24.2% as of January 2019. <strong>The</strong> world is<br />
better when everyone has the opportunity<br />
to contribute their quota; optimal value is<br />
derived through diversity, just as an<br />
investment in a diverse portfolio yields<br />
better returns.<br />
Engr Funmilola Ojelade FNSE<br />
is substance. And for as long as we keep<br />
our eyes on that vision, we will keep<br />
progressing.<br />
<strong>The</strong> world has produced great<br />
female engineers from diverse<br />
ethnicities including Mae C. Jemison. To<br />
introduce your “engineer girls” to the<br />
wider engineering world, do you have<br />
any project in place to engage with<br />
female engineers in the Diaspora to<br />
collaborate and work with you and your<br />
organisation?<br />
We have been reaching out over the<br />
years and we continue to do that. However,<br />
this has been limited to attending<br />
conferences like the Society for Women<br />
Engineers (SWE) conference in the United<br />
States and the International Conference of<br />
Women Engineers and Scientists<br />
(ICSWES). This enables us to network<br />
with other female engineers from all over<br />
the world. Now, we will be working with<br />
the Engineering Forum of Nigerians, UK<br />
(EFN – UK) to engage with female<br />
engineers in Diaspora, starting with the<br />
UK.<br />
How do you balance the role of wife,<br />
mother, engineer and recently APWEN<br />
President?<br />
It’s been a challenging one. I delegate<br />
Engr Funmilola Ojelade FNSE