Adenike Adebola is a core professional in the engineering field and a COREN certified engineer with 16 years experience as a technical safety engineer. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, she speaks about her belief in women pulling their weight, rather than waiting for freebies, the need for strategic planning for leadership, seeming extinct of professionalism among other issues.
Some think there is a extinct of professionalism in Nigeria, do you agree?
My answer is yes and no. Yes, because I believe that as a country, we celebrate mediocrity generally, we cut people slacks so easily and we celebrate people for doing their jobs. For example, you see someone trying to stand on the right and concerned about quality of delivery and the feedback is that you are doing too much. However, there is still a remnant of people that can’t compromise quality. So I don’t want to say I fully agree; I believe that on the average, the regular Nigerian is more concerned about pecuniary gains and very few people are allowing themselves to be thoroughbred. But some professions still maintain standard, COREN still puts us through those rigours before we can get certified but Nigeria does not reward people that go through the rigours and this set should be better compensated. So, it’s a chicken and the egg situation, there’s the low level of professionalism because the society doesn’t appreciate professionalism and so people don’t aspire, but for those that care, there is the opportunity and community of people well versed and they do well.
Do you think there’s a restriction on women in the professional circle in Nigeria?
Again, I think the professional circle is a wide circle and I can’t speak for all professions but I speak for the engineering profession. I don’t believe that there are deliberate restrictions however because women are generally raised and primed for the soft life, and also for women, what we have is the social and emotional currency and engineering is based on hard facts and not emotions. There’s a level of precision required which cannot be gotten with the social and emotional currency women possess. Personally, I don’t see a lot of female wanting to put in the work required to be recognised as a professional but this doesn’t mean no woman can do that. I know many women in my circle that have gone all out to put in the required work and are well compensated. Though, no one, either male or female, is well compensated in the country. I know many women complain they were not allowed in particular roles but, for me, policies and laws have been shifted, so I believe that being great at your job helps. Diligence, being thoroughly disciplined and skilled do a lot for you
Should marital status be criteria for measuring women’s success?
It depends on what a woman’s career is. It depends on what a woman is trying to do. For example, if she is supposed to be a marriage counsellor, it will be difficult to take counsel from her if she isn’t married. That’s why I said it depends on what her job is but if her marriage is not going to do anything for her job wise, let’s say she’s an engineer, I will say her success should not be measured based on marriage but on what she has to offer as a human.
What is your view on the 35 percent affirmative action?
I struggle with affirmative action on anything; gender, race, sexual orientation or whatever because I believe if it is not well administered, it is an opportunity to allow mediocrity. For example, the federal character that we all cry for, it is actually a form of affirmative action, but if it is not well administered, what will happen is that in order to meet up with the 35 percent, you will just go and bring anybody you see on the street because you want to count numbers. However, if affirmative action is properly designed, to make sure that it is not just figures but quality; I will expect that there is a thorough research plan that will consider what the obstacles are; you need to drill down and work on your pipeline such that the best will be put forward, not just to fill numbers. It should be properly designed; there must be capacity building before projecting these people. Talking of percentage, I will say it is better to have 50 percent of qualified women.
What’s your opinion about women in politics?
I believe that politics is a significant part of our lives and if we have almost 50 percent of our population being female, in my opinion, it would absolutely be wrong to have the people making key decisions as male because I do not believe that the perspective of the female will be represented but I prefer to have people both male and female that had been trained for leadership
Are women treated fairly in Nigerian politics?
In my opinion, the answer is yes. The reason I said yes is that I don’t believe that Nigerian women are strategic when getting into politics. We seem to go into politics with this idea that people are going to make life easy for us; we get forms cheaper and are like a laughing stock for now. And in my opinion, it is because we get it easy. I still don’t understand why women have to pay less than men for nomination forms. I think the prices need to come down for both men and women because a woman buying at a lesser price already means she is lesser than the male counterpart. Since we have been purchasing forms for women, have we elected women? Reduction on form fee is just a palliative to stop women from revolting. Women’s political value is low in Nigeria.
How can women get involved in policy making even when they don’t hold political positions?
If we have a community that trains women for leadership, a training ground specifically for women to be groomed, they will have opportunity to mingle and relate with others that will be in the position to contribute to decision making and are in active politics; this can afford them opportunities to share ideas with them. I also believe that women can contribute by joining organisations that are involved in governance issues. Some of your school alumni members are in governance; you can use the alumni group to share your thoughts with them as women.
What do you think about the general belief that attributes a woman’s success to sexual promiscuity and assistance from men?
This is a complex question; some women have their success attributed to sexual promiscuity because that is the situation. And then, there are women that have worked hard to be what they are. My view is that people especially men project because they had never done anything for a woman without strings attached and there are women that project because that’s how they got to the top. They are merely narrating their own stories. But for some of us that had not had to compromise, we will say it is a wrong assertion but that is us living in a cocoon. The truth is you can’t find the ladder of success without assistance from both men and women; it doesn’t mean that you compromise your values; it just means that you meet destiny helpers.
How easy is it to be a female professional?
Speaking for myself, I will say it is not easy to get an engineering degree but I don’t think it has anything to do with the gender, it is just because there are rigours involved in becoming an engineer starting from secondary school where you have to pass your science courses and by the time you leave secondary school, it narrows down the number of females that are going into engineering, a major in this is STEM in general. However, we have identified that as an issue and some have taken it up as something to address after identifying issues that serve as stumbling blocks. But becoming a female engineer is challenging just as becoming a male engineer is challenging though there are few things that being a female can complicate. It is a fact that not many people go into engineering, not to talk of females
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Treason: Obi, Datti’s comments don’t violate Section 37 of criminal code — Falana
Leading rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana on Thursday dismissed the claim by the Buhari administration that the Labour Party presidential team of Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed is engaging in subversive acts…
Obi threatens lawsuit against Peoples Gazette, says leaked audio fake
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25 elections, Peter Obi, has dismissed leaked audio of an alleged conversation between him and Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, as fake.…
Whitney Adeniran: Lagos govt places Chrisland school on probation
Chrisland High School in Ikeja, Lagos, has been placed on probation by the Lagos State Government for one academic session to monitor adherence to safety policies and guidelines…
Ilorin youths clash, destroy 25 cars over girlfriend in JSS class
At least, 25 cars were destroyed as youths from Itamerin and Ode Popo communities lay claim to the boyfriend of one Aisha, a JSS student.…
Super Falcons kick off training in Turkey ahead of international friendlies
Nigeria’s Super Falcons on Wednesday in Antalya had their first training session since arrival in Turkey on Tuesday ahead of the international friendlies against Haiti and New Zealand…
EDITORIAL: DSS alarm on interim government
SINCE last week’s declaration by the Department of State Services (DSS) that some members of the political class were plotting an interim government to truncate the smooth handing over of power by President Muhammadu Buhari,…
