*Promises to improve numerical strength of female engineers
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Dr Adebisi Osim was at the weekend sworn in as the 18th President of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), pledging to ensure that during her tenure, the numerical strength of female engineers is boosted across Nigeria.
Speaking at her investiture ceremony in Abuja, the civil engineer pledged to forge a path of innovation, inclusivity, and empowerment of women in the world of engineering.
Like her predecessor, Osim said she would reach out to hundreds of children encouraging them to join the engineering family through the organisation’s various projects.
As an association, she stated that APWEN has impacted the lives of many young girls, fuelled their dreams and proffered for them a strong support system, stressing that she intends to hit the ground running.
As crafted in APWEN’s aims and objectives, Osim reiterated that under her watch, the body will be a catalyst for the advancement of women in the engineering profession towards national and global technological development.
According to her, the women engineering group will continuously increase awareness that engineering is a career for girls also, thereby improving their numbers in the profession.
A special division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Osim stated that APWEN consists of all disciplines of engineering and has only one gender, stressing that the motherly instincts in women gives them the needed passion to mentor and guide the young ones to take up science courses.
As a young girl drawn to the sciences, the new APWEN president said she was one of just four females in a class of over 40 students in the first year and graduated as the only female in the class.
“That experience had such a great impact in my life as a young lady and to this day has influenced my journey through the engineering profession. The need for a strong female engineering community cannot be overemphasised as engineering had been seen as ‘man’s work’ for years,” she said.
According to her, that narrative is now being shattered, with the growing notion that engineering is both for the girl-child as it is for the boy-child.
“As an association, we shall not only focus on the girl-child but we shall extend our hands as mothers and hold up our boys as well. By fostering diversity and equality, the practice of providing equal access to opportunities and resources will become integrated into the greater society,” she added.
In her remarks, NSE President, Margaret Oguntala, described the occasion as a historic one, stressing that it was a moment for all who had tirelessly worked towards a more inclusive and progressive engineering landscape.
“As the first woman to lead the NSE, I recognise the significance of this moment, and it is only fitting that my inaugural event is one that celebrates the extraordinary accomplishments of APWEN,” she said.
Also speaking, the outgone President of the association, Dr. Elizabeth Eterigho, reeled out the programmes under her watch to promote professional development and technological advancement of members and women in general.
She encouraged everyone, organisations, agencies, academia that were present to join hands with APWEN as well as the new president and her team to propel the association further.
Others who spoke at the event were a former Governor of Cross River state, Liyel Imoke, who eulogised the “amazing strength of character” of the new APWEN president as well as friends of Air Vice Marshall Eko Osim, the late husband of the new APWEN leader.
