BEVERLY HILLS, March 07, (THEWILL) – Nigerian women are not only breaking the glass ceilings at home, they are also proving their worth on the global stage. The recent emergence of Dr. as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a pointer to the fact that there is no barrier that the Nigerian woman cannot break if given the level-playing field.
With her emergence as not only the first woman but also the first black person to occupy the highly-exalted office in Switzerland, our dear Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has proven beyond every reasonable doubt that the Nigerian woman is ready to conquer the world and that the sky might just be the starting point for our amazons.
Though the WTO job might be the icing on the cake for Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and the highpoint of her career as a global champion, the former World Bank Vice President and Nigeria’s former Finance Minister continues to identify herself with the country of her birth and has never wavered in identifying herself as a proud Nigerian even as she is also an American citizen.
Nigeria, no doubt, is proud of not only Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, an Harvard-trained development economist, but all other amazons as well who are good ambassadors of our great nation and are shining lights across the globe. They have all gone to prove the now-acceptable cliche that what a man can do, a woman can even do better.
The exploits and excellent performances of the Nigerian women across the various strata of the society and in both business and governance have proven to a great extent that they are even better leaders and administrators than the men. For instance, we have Ibikunle Awosika who is the Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria; Osaretin Demuren, Chairman of GT Bank; Dr. Ola Brown (Orekunrin), Founder, Flying Doctors Nigeria; Mosun Belo-Olusoga, Chairman of Access Bank and Mrs Nneka Oyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director/CEO, Fidelity Bank and Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, Head of Service of the Federation, to name a few.
Other top Nigerian women leaving their footprints in the sands of time include the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Mrs. Amina Mohammed and the former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed, the permanent observer of the African Union to the United Nations as well as many others, who are daily bridging the gender gap and breaking barriers globally. Our dear Olabisi Boyle, an Engineer, is currently changing the game at Hyundai Motors North America as the Vice President of Product Planning and Mobility Strategy.
Only recently, another Nigerian woman, Dr. Njide Okonjo-Udochi, emerged as the first black female Physician-of-the-Year in the United States of America just as Dr. Rita Orji, a Nigerian-born Canadian professor, was honoured at the Digital Nova Scotia’s Digital Diversity Awards as a “Women Leader in the Digital Economy” for being one of the women who “have made a significant contribution to Nova Scotia’s ICT sector and are active champions of diversity in their communities or organisations.”
The list of our women achievers who are making waves both locally and internationally is, indeed, endless and THEWILL is really proud of their exploits and determination to succeed even in the face of opposition. We recall the opposition and eventual triumph of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in her bid for the WTO job as she remained resolute, focused and determined despite the opposition from the former U.S. President, Donald Trump. Her resilience and dogged determination to succeed despite all odds is the typical Nigerian spirit and that’s what makes us tick.
Therefore, as Nigerian women join their counterparts globally on Monday, March 8, 2021, to mark the annual International Women’s Day, we felicitate with our amazons worldwide as we encourage them not to give up no matter the challenges. The theme of this year’s celebration, Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world, is quite instructive and we encourage them to continue to be the shining lights and good role models to the younger ones.
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