You will reach the peak of your career if…—Rear Admiral Itunu Hotonou (rtd)

 Rear Admiral Itunu Hotonou (rtd) is a woman of many firsts. She was the first female officer to command a squadron at the Naval College, the first female officer to attend the National Defence College where she graduated as the best all round student, the first naval female rear admiral in Africa and the first Group Managing Director/CEO of Nigeria Navy Holdings. In this interview by TAYO GESINDE, the Chief Executive Officer of Dynasty Global services who clocked 58 on Wednesday 18, January 2017 shares her success story.

 

Growing up

It was not unusual that I was a tomboy as a child because I was the first of four daughters and I was born to a father who I would say was born ahead of his time; the fact that I was a girl didn’t mean anything to him. He taught me how to change tyre; I changed my first tyre at age 12. I mown the lawn, he taught me how to change bulbs, sockets and so on. It was like the norm. We used to drive our mother to distraction, I would take my sisters along to climb trees and she would be screaming ,”you are girls, why are you doing these?”But my father would tell her to leave us alone. She tried her best to instil feminine values in us but we didn’t listen to her most of the time but I think she didn’t do too badly in the end because she taught us how to sew, cook and be good mothers.

 

Role model

Undoubtedly, my father; Professor Olu Tomori of the department of English, University of Ibadan. He was somebody who was focused, committed, honest and hardworking. He instilled those values in  his children. One of the things I craved was that I will be able to make him proud. He was my greatest role model and the motivator I had.

 

Choice of career

I had graduated with a degree in Architecture from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and had taken my professional practice examination so, I was just looking for something different to do. I tried to join the army but the army wasn’t taking women for Engineering at the time. Then I heard that the Navy was taking women into all fields so that was how I joined the Navy.

 

Challenges faced

The major challenge that I faced was that at the time I joined the Navy, women in the military were either nurses or caterers. So, people were not used to women who were not in the typically female professions as it were. Although there were some women in account and budget and some were teachers, we were in the minority. Being in the minority was a major challenge. I was able to overcome this challenge by remaining focused and developing a thick skin. I put my hands down and made sure I did what I needed to do. Though there were periods when things were very difficult but thankfully, I had a lot of very good bosses who appreciated and valued my work, once in a while, you come across some that no matter what you do, you can’t please them. Also, by the virtue of the fact that you are doing well in your career, some people were upset. I had those periods off and on.

 

How I was able to achieve the feat of being the first female rear admiral in Africa

It is by the grace of God and by dint of hard work because I realised very early that when you are a woman in a man’s profession, you have to work three times harder than men. If you are not afraid of  hard work you will get to the peak of your career. Also, God brings people your way who will encourage you and who don’t feel that because you are female you are inferior in any way. I was fortunate to have superior officers who believed in my ability, who didn’t care if I was male or female. The important thing to them was that I could deliver. With having to work harder, much longer and be more focused, I was able to get to the top of my chosen career.

 

How I felt commanding a squadron

It wasn’t difficult because I was undergoing training and was taught what to do. What they did was to create an all female only squadron. It was interesting.

 

Combining the home front with my military career

One of the things I tell women is that women are endowed with a lot of physiological and emotional strength; we are the ones who underestimate ourselves. If you look at the average market woman or female farmer, they probably spend longer hours and do more intense work than those of us who do white collared jobs. I think a lot of it has to do with planning. Secondly, having a supportive spouse is an advantage because if you have those two, there is really nothing you cannot do. I know that one of the things my husband and I spoke about when the children were young was the fact that I was likely to get posted around a lot. And because of that, we made contingency plans.

One of the things we agreed was that the children will always be in Lagos and they would not go to boarding schools for two reasons; so I could be able to talk to them wherever I was serving and two, so that I will never miss any visiting day because sometimes by the nature of our work, we may not be able to travel. It required a bit of sacrifice. Something else that we did was that every two weeks, I will come home and one thing that I always did which I thank the Navy for was that once a  month, you can have a long weekend which means you can leave on Thursday and come back on Monday. I always took advantage of that. When I come to town, I would go to my children’s school talk to their teachers and see how they were faring. They never knew when I would come to town so that helped put them on their best behaviour at all times. I remember a teacher once told me that “you are the mother that comes from out of town but we know you more than the other mothers.” Having a supportive husband also helped. I could afford to be away because I know their father is home with them. Another thing my husband and I agreed on was that whenever they were on holidays, wherever I was serving, they would always spend their holidays and mid -term with me. I will say  I actually see my children more than most hard working mothers in Lagos who leave home very early when their children were still in bed and come back late in the evening when the children have gone to bed.

 

Most defining moment of my career

The day I was promoted admiral. It was the pinnacle of my career, it was a crowning glory. It was something I had hoped for, prayed for but didn’t dare believe could actually happen. The day it did, it made everything I had gone through worth it. Today, I feel humbled when people shower encomiums at me based on my achievements. I was at an event and the gentleman who had come to usher me in said” ma’ám I am honoured to be in the presence of history.” I wasn’t sure what he was saying at first but it occurred to me that he was talking about me. At that point in time, I felt infinitely tiny like a speck in God’s creation. It is a humbling experience. It is something that I thank God for because I know there will only be one female rear admiral, me. There will never be another one. It is an incredibly great gift for me.

 

Life as an entrepreneur

Again, I must thank God for the Navy and the exposure and experience I had there. The last two years of my service in the Navy, I headed the Navy Building and Construction Company so I cut my teeth managing a business there. Now that I am out and doing it full time, I am able to draw on the experience I had. It has been encouraging. The only thing I will say is that it is probably a lot easier because whatever I do, I do at my own time and pace.

 

Favourite pastime

I am fortunate that the profession I studied; Architecture is my hobby. So I am happiest when I am designing and constructing. And that is why I still do that. It is one of the things that give me great joy. I enjoy being a grandmother as well, it is a blessing. I like babysitting my grandson.

 

Advice for young women

My advice to them is that they must never limit themselves. They must understand that they already have within them the strength to do the things they think they cannot do and most importantly, they should never be afraid to strike out. They should also be good at what they do and know that there is no alternative to hard work.