Abimbola Ayuba, President and Chairman of Council, Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), has advocated a conscious and deliberate effort to encourage women instead of impeding their march to the top.
Ayuba argued that this would help women’s bid to break the glass ceiling and get to the top of their career wherever they choose to compete.
“I am convinced that women are not asking to be gifted management and leadership positions but are only demanding a level playing field to compete favourably because they possess all it takes to excel at the top.
“It is time to do away with the stereotypes and straight jackets women have been boxed into,” Ayuba said at the opening ceremony of the 2026 WIMLEAD conference held at NECA House, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to him, Nigerian women have exhibited the highest level of excellence, determination and inspiration by managing human and material resources with accountability, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, honesty and integrity which are the core values of the Institute.
“Nigerian women have done exceptionally well in every area of human endeavour ranging from the home front to the academia, business, corporate world, the boardroom and the political space,” he said.
He however questioned their exclusion from critical decision making boardrooms across many sectors of the country’s national life.
“Curiously, in spite of the hard work women have put in and the gains they have made in management and leadership, they are still discriminated against at the top across many professions.
“There is, therefore, a compelling need for women’s voices to be heard in order to drive change and help shape the nation’s economic future,” Ayuba added.
Christiana Okenla, Director, Customer Success, Equinox, and one of the guest speakers, said gender inclusion is an economic strategy.
She added that the evidence is consistent across geographies, economies, and institutional contexts; whenever women have genuine influence in policy and governance.
Kola Adesina, Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group, said Nigeria’s greatest strength is its people, however, too many remain excluded from economic opportunities.
Adesina in a keynote address said that population by itself cannot guarantee prosperity. “Nigeria cannot unlock its full potential while a number of women, youth and low-income households remain excluded.”
According to him, Nigeria is one of the world’s fastest-growing talent pools; but currently suffers from an uneven distribution of economic opportunity.
“Yet millions of people (particularly women, young and underserved people) remain excluded from the opportunities needed to fully contribute to the country’s economic growth,” Adesina said.
He added that building a more prosperous Nigeria requires expanding economic opportunity for underserved and unserved groups through deliberate economic inclusion.
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