Eminent Nigerian women took turn to train other women in the areas of politics, agriculture and technology at a special International Women’s Day Conference that took place at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on the 9th of March 2016. The theme of the conference was ‘Pledge for Parity: Empowering the 21st century African Woman’. The conference was organized by SME 100 Nigeria and Rubies Vocational School.
Welcoming participants to the conference, Mr Charles Odii, Executive Director, SME 100 said ‘the time has come for Nigerian women to be competitive on a global level in the areas of politics, agriculture and technology. According to him, ‘the nation can only develop substantially if women make efforts at being professionals in these male-dominated sectors. The conference was organized for women to learn from those who have become renowned.’
While speaking on the launch of the training plan for 1,000 women pan-Nigeria, Mrs. Orode Okpu, Executive Director, Rubies Vocational School said ‘women in the rural areas of Nigeria would not be left out of the training programmes for 2016. In her words, ‘There would be training in different vocations that best suit their locality. This training would be conducted by partnering with the House of Tara for the Make-Up category; Otres Restaurant for the catering category; Nuts About Cakes for the baking category and many others. Interested applicants can visit- www.sme100nigeriaconferences.com to sign up.’
The keynote speaker of the day, Mrs. Mosun Belo-Olusoga, Chairperson, Access Bank Plc and other facilitators such as Oreoluwa Somolu-Lesi (Executive Director, W.TEC); Hajjiya Aisha Babangida (Chairman, Better Life for Rural Women, Nigeria); Hon Lolade Akande (Commissioner for Women Affairs, Lagos State); Chief Mrs Kemi Nelson,( APC Women Leader); Mrs Funke Egbemode (Founder, Mummy’s Integrated Farms Ltd); Mosun Umoru (Founder, Harvesters Farms Ltd and Special Technical Adviser on youth and gender to the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Audu Ogbeh ); Adanma Onuegbu (CEO, Signal Alliance) encouraged women to collectively fight the scourge of poverty by being empowered with the set skills that will challenge the status quo. Other activities at the conference include free breast cancer screening by the Pink Pearl Foundation and there was also an extensive panel session.
