- To promote Nigeria’s technological advancement
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – The National Association of Professional Women Engineers (APWEN), has canvassed gender inclusiveness in the quest for the technological advancement, through deliberate education policies that favour the girl child in Nigeria.
Chairman of Calabar Chapter of the Association, Engineer Eme Nyah Enoh said at the inauguration of the executives that consciously encouraging the girl child to embrace science based courses at the tertiary level would breach the yawning gab existing in the engineering industry.
Enoh noted that her preference for engineering as a profession stemmed from childhood experience when she saw a lady dressed in factory kits with helmet at a construction site.
She said that singular encounter left a strong impression on her mind and created the awareness that engineering was not an exclusive preserve of the male gender.
The Chapter Chairman pointed out that APWEN was set up to encourage the girl child to embrace engineering as against the wrong notion that women, irrespective of their academic attainment, are supposed to end up in government offices and the classroom as teachers, outside the nursing profession.
She also pointed out that apart from government scholarship and educational grants as a tool for encouraging the girl child to embrace science based courses, parents also have a role to play by encouraging their children irrespective of gender not to limit their focus in terms of job choices as the foundation for achieving such goals starts from the home.
In her remarks, the Acting Head of Civil Engineering Department, University of Cross River State (UNICROSS), Engineer Dr Nkpe Ogarekpe said engineering is the foundation of any quest for technological growth in a country.
According to him, there must intentional measures and policies aimed at encouraging and supporting students who develop the flair for science-based courses in tertiary institutions.
He urged the government to enunciate policies that ensure multi-national firms executing contracts in the country establish educational foundations in tertiary institutions to encourage youths to study sciences.
Engr Ogarekpe made reference to some oil and gas multi-national companies which in the recent past partnered the Engineering Department of the former Polytechnic Calabar to the extent that the department became famous by churning out quality engineering graduates.
