Women are nation builders —Oluwakemi Naiyeju

Oluwakemi Naiyeju, a lawyer with 16 years at the bar is a woman with vast experience in various fields both in the public and private sectors. She has worked as a real estate lawyer, a marketer and customer service executive. She partnered with African Women Entrepreneurship as the project manager to provide voluntary services, welfare empowerment and humanitarian services program for the female inmates in prison and orphanage homes. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, the legal manager at Federal Inland Revenue Service speaks on women in politics and leadership, money management and exploring potentials of women among other issues:

Will you say women are given a chance to reach their potentials in Nigeria?

Women can attain their potentials in Nigeria given the chance or not. It’s however important that you align your actions and words with your moral principles. When you do this, the pieces of your life tend to fall into place. You will experience more happiness because you are staying true to yourself.

How easy is it for women to uphold their moral values and break even in the Nigerian society?

Women can uphold their moral values and break even in Nigeria depending on their belief, especially on who is the true source of help which is God first and then secondly, you must strive to empower yourself with the necessary education or skill acquisition. The fact is regardless of how tough and competitive the economy is, a resilient woman will eventually find a space at the top

Are Nigerian women really ready for leadership?

Of course, yes. I believe Nigerian women are ready for leadership in every sphere, even politics. We have more women now as top officials in both the private and public sector and they are doing well but we need more women to venture into political offices

How can women prove their worth to be seen beyond cheer leaders and sex objects?

It is simple, nothing aside hard work, they can only achieve this by working hard and staying focused

What do you think about the general belief that attributes a woman’s success to sexual promiscuity and assistance from men?

It is unfortunate that people still think like this in this era. It is a wrong believe to assume that successful women’s success is based on assistance from men because these days you find a lot of women improving on their career growth, spiritual growth and also skills acquisition. So why then won’t we get a good space on top?

Are women supporting women?

Currently, we have some women that are supporting women but not all women are supporting women. We need to do more sensitisation on this because women need to help each other.

What are the challenges faced by women aspiring for leadership roles?

The major challenge is being treated equally; from being held to a higher standard than their male counterparts, to facing persistent gender stereotypes, women are systemically placed on an uneven playing field. Also, women have to contend with the issue of advocating on their own behalf

In our society, ambition in men is considered a sign of strength but women cannot rely on their ambition being perceived as a positive attribute. Women also have issues trusting their own voices.

Women often must push through internal and external barriers to find the confidence to express their ideas. For women in business, it may be a challenge to trust in the unique aspects of female executive presence and acknowledge them as personal and organizational assets.

There is also the challenge of building alliances; men learn to play the game through longstanding business conventions that help them build alliances and influence others. So, women may need to find alternate routes to building mutually beneficial alliances and strategic relationships.

Another challenge is impostor syndrome when faced with systemic gender bias and inequality; women often have difficulties in this area

Can women manage money well?

Women can manage money. Women are nation /continents builders. Women give birth to kids, raise kids and discipline kids more. Also, women multitask; they work while taking care of the kids and building their professional. The structure of today’s world has exposed women to be more prudent, efficient and multitasking in nature. Hence birthing great professionals like doctors, lawyers, athletes, musicians, pastors etc

Advice for women especially those that want to enter the public space

My advice for women that want to enter the public space is in these few word; put God first, speak up, improve on your education or skills acquisition and if you want to aspire for polical position, ensure you join a political party.

Also, be hardworking and diligent anywhere you find yourself presently, be assured that the International Labour Law Organisation which Nigeria has ratified some of the treaties which Nigeria is part of, protects the rights of women. The convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) adopted in 1979 by the UN general assembly is an international bill on rights of women too and even the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria also protects the rights of its citizens from discrimination, so women should know their rights and stand up for it

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