Interrogate Unjust Removal of Female Leaders from Key Political Positions, Foundation Urges Women Groups

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

MMS Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame (WoFHoF) Initiative has a matter of priority urged the Nigerian women groups to interrogate and curb the unjust removal of female leaders from key political positions across the country.

WoFHoF, noted that several women groups across industries were not doing enough in terms of standing up for women and this had led to unfortunate trends of women leaders being unfairly displaced without any groups doing anything about it.

The Founder of MMS WoFHoF Initiative, Mr. Kingsley Anaroke, made this call while speaking at the 2024 MMS Hall of Fame Induction and International Women’s Leadership Summit in Abuja.

Anaroke, speaking on the sidelines of the event lamented that it was not okay to visit these women after they are displaced for condolences or pity parties or crying, stating that women groups should be able to interrogate these displacements especially when they are unfair.

He described MMS Hall of Famers as a set of phenomenal women who have seen it all in their chosen careers by redefining standards and are giving back to the society as role-models and mentors in the spirit of goal 5 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which seeks women empowerment and by extension poverty reduction.

Regrettably, he said, the MMS Hall of Fame family in the last two years lost three key members. “The most recent is the late music icon, Onyeka Onwenu. Earlier, we lost Lady Margaret Orakwusi, another Icon and Queen of the maritime industry who incidentally was our Board of Trustees Chairperson.

“And painfully again, we lost lyalode Alaba Lawson, an astute educationist and serial entrepreneur, who also happened to be a member of the Governing Council of the MMS Hall of Fame. These were painful losses but Heaven gained.”

According to him, “For want of time, on behalf of the Board, Council and Management, I congratulate the Class of 2024 MMS Hall of Fame inductees for having been found exceptionally worthy of being part of the MMS Hall of Fame community.”

Similarly speaking, the chairperson of the occasion/ former Director, Special Duties at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Hajia Lami Tumaka, highlighted the need to establish a gender quality taskforce, gender policy task team, develop a proper policy recommendation and create an online resource based and platform for gender based issues.

She said: “There is the need to have Nigerian women at leadership tables were significant issues about policies and industry decisions are taken and I challenge women to make themselves available and ready to be helped.”

In his keynote address, the former Executive Secretary of Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello, expressed delight that the numbers are rising in terms of women recruited in the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron.

According to him, We need coordinated and concerted efforts to ensure that more women get involved in the academies and become leading practitioners. Gender equality is about equal access to education, access to finance, absence of harassment, equal access to promotion at the workplace, as well as economic and political rights.

The essence of women inclusion, Bello said is not just to tag along, but proper inclusion in the development of policies. “The truth is that if men were to pay their wives wages for taking care of the children and the home, we won’t be able to afford it,” he said.