‘Women Don’t Easily Get Contracts Because they Don’t Give Kickbacks’
Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
President of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), Dr. Elizabeth Eterigho, has disclosed that the major reason being responsible for women not to secure government contracts lays in their truth and inability to give kickbacks.
She said despite the challenges that female engineers encounter in the profession, times are changing for the better and come January 2024, a woman who is currently the deputy president is billed to be the next president of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE).
Eterigho, who spoke yesterday in Abuja as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of APWEN, said there has been a policy in place that says 30 per cent of female engineers must be at the helm of affairs in administration and this has been approved by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
With the theme “Our voice, our strength and our future” the president said the government must consciously put policies in place to help the association as well as other women bodies in the discharge if their mission and vision and to ensure it is accomplished.
Recognising that it is a male dominated field, she further added that female engineers must know the power that resides within them, adding that they must develop, strengthen and nurture ideas that must inspire them to continually break barriers and glass ceilings in order to charter courses and deliver.
She said: “When it comes to contracts, women don’t easily get it because the men feel that women will not give kick backs and that’s the truth, we stand in our rights. What we insist on is the quality of the job.
“The men have been supportive and have supported us to the extent that we now have a female deputy president and by January next year, she’s taking over as the next president of the Nigeria Society of Engineers after 65 years.
“We have a policy to negotiate the data base of female engineers in Nigerian positions, engineering firms, ministries, etc. We now have a policy in place that states that 30 per cent of female engineers must be at the helms of affairs in administration. This has been approved by COREN and to back this up, the association has been able to put a woman in NSE today.
“In everything you want to do and succeed today, there must be 30 percent females and this is included in the SDG goals. For us to sustain what we are doing, the 30 percent rule must be obeyed” she said.
