By Omagha Idam
Her Imperial Majesty, The Empress Queen of Sheba III, while on a historical first time visit to Nigeria has called on the most populous black nation in the world to take advantage of her numerical strength, explaining that “Your population of over 200 million is your strength, use it to your advantage”. Explaining that Nigeria is blessed with huge human resources and natural resources and that the nation can transform this for their good, especially when they acknowledge women as the foundation for any nation to thrive.
Her Imperial Majesty, The Queen of Sheba III, in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital for the APC National Women’s Summit and Dialogue as the Special Guest of Honour, with the Theme : Empowering APC Women for Leadership and Nation Building”. She noted that “Women are a Strong Foundation for any nation to succeed, therefore they are the foundation of the Home, without a strong foundation the nation will not be. strongly built”.
Her Imperial Majesty Queen Sheba III, stressed that Nations can only be built and developed when Women, who are the Mothers in the Home are Empowered Economically and this will translate to quality education of their children irrespective of gender. “I call on Every woman to equip themselves with as much education as possible and be Economically and politically prepared, to raise quality future leaders”.
Earlier in her Address the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, stated that “The Renewed Hope Agenda of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, GCFR, places strong emphasis on creating opportunities for women to thrive economically, socially and politically. In this administration, we have witnessed increased representation of women in key positions within our party, and government”. Empowering women is a catalyst for national development.
The Keynote Speaker, Engr Noimat Salako – Oyedele , FNSE, The Deputy Governor of Ogun State, declared that “One of the responsibilities we have as women leaders is to empower the next generation”. She enjoined women to commit to ” lifting other women as we rise and build strong networks”. “Let’s kick the doors wide open for future generations”.
The National Women leader, Dr Mary Alile Idele, called on participants to envision a world “where Every Girl knows that she can emerge a leader. Thus we must catch them young, mentor and groom them”.
In her address to the Summit Her Imperial Majesty,
If we are to seriously empower APC women, they must uniquely differentiate themselves from the
crowd and stand out from the noise and clamor that passes for Leadership and Nation Building.
Standards must be set high and must be met. Earning certificates or the passing of tests and exams that duse, violence and prostitution which leads to HIV/AIDS and a myriad of social ills including systemic poverty.
Let us change the status quo, let us raise the bar, let us transform the mindset of good enough to excellence, from time-based training and education to results based training and education – results of which I speak of being “full proficiency”. After all that is the best chance that women can have to gain fulfilling employment and a higher standard of living and a
higher quality of life.
APC women must Standout. Existing standards are the status quo. APC women to succeed must rise above the status quo. Good enough is in fact not good enough if we are to truly empower APC women and Nigerian women generally.
Foundational to this is Education, Learning and Training that sets a standard of “Full Proficiency”
meaning full conceptual understanding and full ability to apply practical knowledge to real life
Leadership and Nation Building challenges.
Learning/Education/Training that achieves “full proficiency” results is the key to success and the key to moving the dial forward toward truly empowering women.
Learning to a level of “Full Proficiency” is a crucial component of nation building because it equips
women with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities necessary for personal development, economic prosperity, and social cohesion, allowing them to actively participate in society and contribute to a nation’s progress by creating a skilled workforce capable of driving innovation and addressing complex challenges something that current education systems heartbreakingly do not do.
The disconnection between current education systems and real life work and employment is a large chasm that must be bridged. You may have asked yourself, why are there so many youth unemployed? Many answers may surface and blame can be heaped on various factors but let us face the bitter truth. Youth are unemployed because they are unemployable. They are unemployable because they are not fully proficient in a skill or subject that is in demand and that society needs to stay focused.
They are not proficient enough to create their own employment through entrepreneurial work that solves a problem or provides a product or service that fulfills a need or demand that society will pay for.
