The federal government has emphasized on the need to groom a crop of young women to take over from the aging ones who are retiring from active practice in the maritime industry.
The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi stated this in an address to the 2017 Class of MMS Plus Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame Induction with the theme,”National Integration: Women’s Role in Leadership and Mentorship held in Lagos yesterday.
Represented by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Bello, Amaechi assured of the Ministry’s support for issues as important as mentorship and leadership.
According to him,”There are some fading disappearance, we are aging rapidly, someone said and it is always good to catch them young. I know there are so many organizations like WISTA, WILAT who are also into this very important venture to catch them young and we have already and they are all here occupying the pinnacle of the industry. We have them in terminal operation, we have them as lawyers, we have them as organizational heads of government agencies and parastatals.
“But we need to cultivate the crop of young women to take over or to replace the ones going away. So, the Ministry of Transportation will surely support such very important issue as mentorship and leadership. Nigerian Shippers’ Council particularly is involved in mentoring to the young girls, we have had visits from universities and colleges where we have our tutorship in the possibilities and potentialities in the maritime industry”.
On her part, the Chairperson, Board of Trustees of the Women of Fortune Hall of Fame and Chairperson of the occasion, Barr. Mrs. Margaret Orakwusi while stressing that women were not trying to take over the maritime sector from the men folk, however called on the men to appoint women who were qualified into key positions in the industry adding that nepotism should not be the driving force so that both gender could build a stable nation where peace and justice would reign supreme.
“Mentorship, we should always remember that because we all come from different background, one thing unites us, we all have villages where we come from, our mothers in the villages, even up to date mentor the young ones in the act of cooking, act of keeping home, act of really being a proper Nigerian woman. What they don’t have, we have and that is the profession we hold in law, in medicine, in all sorts of things.
“So we need to fill that gap, we need to use these areas of distinctions to mentor the young ones because they teach them not the practicals in the universities. So, be generous with your time, be generous with your office and let’s groom the young ones”, she admonished.
In her keynote address, a social crusader and human right activist, Dr. Joe Okei Odumakin admonished the women not to see themselves as enemies but lend their actions positively to inspire and affect others starting from their home fronts equipping their children with a good and solid moral standards, in their place of work and wherever they may find themselves.
Odumakin counseled the women not to forget the ladder that brought them up even as she tasked them to serve as ladders through which others may climb to their climax.
“So, we want our career women to know that people look at them consciously and unconsciously because through their acts, they cam become good mentors. They can also discourage other women.
“So, I know that the women will always put the midas touch, women should always have it at the back of their minds that as career women, they remain the lubricants for the survival of the family, of the entity, they are like the umbilical cord in which they get to that pedestal that will attract respectability to their career”, noted.
Earlier, the founder of the Women of Fortune Hall of Fame, Mr. Kingsley Anaroke observed that the event had grown in the last five years to become a non profit organization with the preoccupation of seeking means to impact the younger generation of women through mentorship pairing, career enhancement and celebration of women of substance.
He stated that they had found partners and supporters over the years in the course of adding value to life, womanhood and the society at large saying that collectively, they had become a voice for women and gender equitability.
He said,”Against this background, it is imperative that the gradual drift of the nation towards disintegration needs the intervention of mothers who are usually victims and casualties of every war situation. Today, a statement is about to be made that the solution lies on leadership and mentorship which is empowerment with bonding”.
Highlights of the event was the launching of a book titled, “Mentorship: The Link to Effective Leadership” and induction of eight distinguished women into the Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame.
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