Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, has urged the women in maritime industry to concentrate on developing themselves in order to be able to compete with the male counterparts rather than begging for political appointments.
Delivering his keynote address at the 2019 World Maritime Day celebration with the theme: ‘Empowering Women in the Maritime Community,’ held in Lagos on Thursday, Amaechi said appointment was not about man or woman but about the class one belongs, saying that women get appointment because they merit that appointment.
According to him, there are hundred millions of men and women who are dying of hunger and people do not have to give them appointment based on sentiment.
Citing example, he said, Amina Mohammed, a former minister, was appointed a minister while she was a special adviser to the former Secretary General of the United Nations.
“Amina got to where she is today because she has a vision and would not listen to distractions, and life is about courage. So, I urge women in maritime to stop begging because it is their entitlement. Women are manipulators and can manipulate men but they are also more brilliant,” he said.
The minister further said that Nigeria needs to learn how to lift people out of poverty. “If China can take about 800 million out of 1.5 billion population, out poverty, Nigeria can also set that agenda by lifting people out of poverty,” he said.
He therefore, challenged successful women in maritime to lift other poor women in the villages and creeks who are victims of society.
Gbemisola Saraki, minister of state for transportation, called for increased amount of scholarship and mentorship to boost female participation in the shipping sector.
She added that women can excel and do as good as their male counterparts in a technology-driven shipping industry, adding that focus should address key areas like education, employment and businesses owned by women.
She called for increased funding by government and mentoring by successful females in the industry for the younger ladies.
“Brave women with competence can do as well as men are doing in the shipping industry. Nigeria needs to learn from China,” she said.
According to her, before its advancement in technology, China had only one percent of female participation in shipping which has increased to 28 percent with increase in technology.
On training of women seafarers, she said 26 cadets which represents 10.2 percent of the total number of cadets in Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, is not enough.
Saraki admitted that some aspects of ports, shipping and allied operations are very physically demanding and challenging but with persistence, they can achieve increased female participation.
She however, lauded the activities of Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other women holding key positions in the industry.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
