Women engineers seek fresh insight for technological education

WOMEN engineers have once again pledged their commitment to the on-going process of national rebirth, saying that they are ready to take up the challenges for the country’s benefit.

Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), Mrs. Nimot Muili stated this recently during her investiture and scholarship foundation launching that the association’s ultimate aim is to stimulate women to achieve professional excellence as engineers and leaders.

  Muili, a Principal Engineer - (Civil Infrastructures) with Arup Nigeria, one of the reputable consulting engineering firms within the civil engineering consultancy industry, has built in the cause of working on different engineering projects locally and internationally with specialization and work experience in Civil Infrastructures design, project management, quality assurance and quality control.

  APWEN was formed by a handful of women engineers led by Engr. (Mrs.) J. O. Maduka in 1982, and was formally inaugurated in 1983. It was originally meant to be a pressure group since most men hiring engineers then would rather have women in the kitchen and not on construction sites nor behind the desk carrying out engineering designs.

  APWEN is a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), focussing only on professional female engineers in all disciplines of engineering. It is also a member of the National Council of Women Societies.

  She told The Guardian that the goal of the association is to expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life and 

generate enough awareness that engineering is a career for girls too and to improve on the numerical strength of female engineers in Nigeria.

    Amongst other objectives of the association is encourage engineering studies and practice amongst female Nigerians and create a platform by which women engineers can collaborate with other women in other professions in Nigeria and elsewhere.

  The chair of the Lagos State Chapter of the association noted the scholarship scheme is being re-launched to make it more sustainable through a foundation. Last year, the branch gave a one-off scholarship to ten students worth N1million.

  Under the new scheme, the scholarship has been broadened to include students in the primary and secondary who are interested in science education including youth corpers and teachers.”It is not going to be like one off thing, we will give them opportunity to know what they can do. Explore their talents and use their creative minds to invent things.

We are not going to give them cash awards, but gift items like computers and personal gadgets,” she said.

 Muili explained that the association plans to use JET clubs in the six educational districts in Lagos to launch its wealth-to-wealth programme. About 60 schools will form the nucleus of the new initiative, which will be a win-win for the students and organisations.

source: The Guardian