EVENT COMMUNIQUE
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
The 2019 Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR) Annual Leadership and Mentoring Conference titled AN EVENING WITH WISCAR was successfully held on Saturday 23rd November 2019 at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos from 5:30pm to 10:00pm. The theme of the conference was “I DO NOT WALK ALONE’’. The conference was attended by over six hundred (600) delegates drawn from the Corporate world, Enterprise, Government, Development, & Civil Society sectors. Students from WISCAR Alumni’s Grow and Learn Initiative to secondary schools also attended.
OPENING REMARKS AND GOODWILL MESSAGES
The Governor of Lagos State Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Honourable Commissioner of Establishment, Training & Pensions, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle formally opened the conference. Mr. Governor stated that the Conference theme “I DO NOT WALK ALONE’, was a central theme of any society and indeed the essence of governance particularly in ensuring that the citizenry do not feel alone as they work to build stability in all strata of their endeavours. He stated that there is a safety net in building alliances, and in seeking healthy mentorship and wise counsellors. He also highlighted the achievements of the Lagos State Government in its drive for gender equality and parity, with Lagos State remaining the pace setter for a record number of women in strategic cabinet positions. Mr. Governor concluded his remarks by stating that empowered women made great adjudicators and administrators whether in the public or private sphere and congratulated WISCAR on its efforts to ensure more inclusive economies through its various empowerment and capacity building initiatives.
Mr. Femi Lijadu, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in his goodwill message stated that women’s empowerment plays a huge role in nation building. He emphasised that it was essential to harness all available talent for national development and emphasised the uniqueness and impact of the 12-month WISCAR Mentoring program. Mr. Leonard Kange Executive Director of the Bank of Industry (BOI), representing the Managing Director of BOI, Mr. Kayode Pitan, congratulated WISCAR on the successful convening of the 2019 Conference and stated that the development of women was part of the global agenda which included poverty eradication, financial inclusion and sustainable growth. He reported a projected growth of 26% of Global GDP where women were enabled to fully participate in the labour force at the same rate as men. He concluded that in the world we live today, it is inexcusable to speak of excluding women from all facets of socio-economic activity.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, H.E. Ms. Catriona Laing CB in her video-recorded goodwill message stated that ‘where women succeed the world succeeds’. Ms. Harriet Thompson, Deputy British High Commissioner, encouraged the next generation of women to build strong networks and make business part of their social interactions with people. She also urged women to support other women through mentorship and urged professional women to be courageous about approaching and reaching out for mentors.
INSPIRATIONAL TALKS
Two inspirational talks were delivered by Ugoma Adegoke and Peju Jaiyeoba on “The Power of Many versus the Power of One”. Both speakers in their talks emphasized that by walking with others you can go very far. Peju Jaiyeoba, a WISCAR Alumni also shared her transformational experience on the WISCAR mentoring programme as an enabler and direct contributor to her global success. The talks were interspersed with a power-packed stagecraft performance by the award-winning Executive Director of the Lagos Theatre Festival Bikiya Graham-Douglas captioned ‘’WAIT’’; her performance emphasized the importance of seizing the moment and the support of community in achieving our goals and dreams, even when the odds are against us.
THE FOUNDER’S SPEECH
The Founder/Chairperson of WISCAR, Amina Oyagbola welcomed participants, and in line with the conference theme: “I DO NOT WAlK ALONE’ she highlighted WISCAR’s progress in 2019 towards gender equality and parity in line with its mission of developing women to build a better nation. She re-capped the various initiatives and partnerships in the past year including:
- Successful deployment of the largest class of the WIN with WISCAR Programme
- Successful deployment of the open programmes in partnership with Habiba Balogun Consulting
She expatiated that in addition to our traditional programmes, WISCAR collaborated with First City Monument Bank, to build capacity and mentor 75 female entrepreneurs over a 3-month period. WISCAR also partnered with IHS Towers Limited to scale up the core mentoring programme by including 12 additional women in the Technology and Engineering fields to the WIN-with-WISCAR Programme through their TSAP initiative. Through the support of ACT Foundation, powered by Access Bank, WISCAR Alumni provided mentoring and career guidance to over 500 girls in public and private secondary schools in Lagos State. She also announced new initiatives for 2020 including the WIN with WISCAR WIN 3 programme for women in management positions seeking to break into Executive Leadership and Board Levels. She recognised the 34 outgoing mentees and their outstanding achievements, and she welcomed the 30 incoming mentees for 2020.
Amina Oyagbola stated that at WISCAR we have only achieved what we have because many have joined hands with us. She emphasised the need and importance of togetherness, networking and building strong alliances of community and partnerships quoting the ageless African proverb that “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. She thanked all the speakers and panellists who had very graciously accepted WISCAR’s invitation to inspire and empower others by participating in the event. She specially thanked the keynote speaker, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mrs. Amina J. Mohammed, for acknowledging the important work that WISCAR is doing and for gracing the occasion with her esteemed presence.
THE KEYNOTE SPEECH
The Keynote speech was delivered by Amina J. Mohammed OFR, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. She congratulated WISCAR for convening a beautiful evening towards nation building both in Nigeria and globally. She elaborated that women bring so much to the table and that networks such as WISCAR create opportunities to strengthen the social fabric and provide models of success. She affirmed that WISCAR’s mission of developing women to build a better nation was indeed the UN’s mission as well. She stated that the challenge remained to harness that collective power of community and partnerships to empower women. She added that the pace of change in order to realize deeper impact and institutional transformation had to be accelerated particularly with the increased resistance to women’s rights; in this vein she charged the audience to ‘pushback against the pushbacks’. She reminded us all that the year 2020 was significant in many ways; 10 years towards acceleration of the SDGs, 75 years since the formation of the United Nations; 25 years post the Beijing Conference; 10 years since the formation of UN Women and yet there is still so much to be done. She was however optimistic that with the small ideas that we plant, Nigerians should be able to see our nation take the place it wants and ought to be in the league of nations.
She charged the audience that it is in minding the small things and the details, in always doing the right thing and perseverance that we can have the Nigeria that we want. She emphasized that in doing so we must keep our young women at the center of our efforts. Mrs. Mohammed shared that her greatest influencers while growing up were her mother and grandmother and that as she grew up, she held firmly to family, colleagues, friends, and her household. She never walked alone! She further emphasized these relationships should not be taken for granted.
In conversation with the WISCAR Founder Amina Oyagbola, on how we can achieve a formidable community of nation developers, The UN Deputy Secretary General replied that women should make room for other women and that they should build up and mentor those further down the ladder and not be quick to write off any woman. She emphasized that this was important because once we create a space for a woman, it is easier for another woman to fill it up subsequently.
Plenary Session/ Key Learnings/ Recommendations
The event had one plenary session with the theme ‘Breaking the Glass ceiling: The power of networks, community and partnerships”. The distinguished panelists were; The Honorable Minister of State for Environment Chief Sharon Ikeazor; Honourable Tolu Akande-Sadipe, Member, House of Representatives and Policy Influencer; Cecilia Akintomide OON, Non- Executive Director FBN Holdings; Fumni Omo, MD/CEO African Alliance; and Comfort Lamptey UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS. The discussion was moderated by Frank Aigbogun, Publisher Business Day Newspapers.
Key Learnings from the plenary session;
- Be passionate and committed to what you do otherwise you cannot be successful in it.
- Know your strengths, play them up. Know your weaknesses, fill them up.
- Being a woman means you can pull through challenging circumstances because as women we have been gifted with the gift of multi-tasking.
- Ask for help when required. Never be ashamed to reach out.
- We all have our bright spots and our blind spots, but when we work as a tribe, we will realise that the whole is better than the parts. We can achieve more as a group than as an individual.
- It is important to learn to be calm in all situations. We must learn to be objective without being objectionable.
- Be focused and consistent.
- Groom yourself to be a capable and reliable. This guarantees that you will be called to the table not because you are a woman but because you are capable.
- As women we need to be brave, courageous and fearless and seize opportunities when they arise as well as create the opportunities where they do not exist.
- Women should support capable women when they step out for elective office.
- Do your work well to enable just rewards and the next level opportunity will come to you.
- Women should be encouraged to participate in politics because politics is life and life is politics.
ADVOCACY AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE PANEL AND KEYNOTE
- Gender Inclusivity and Women’s political participation.
Following the discussions of the panel and the keynote speaker, we note that there is a lot more that can be to be done to create more gender inclusive economies, for which the business and political case has already been made. Current statistics show that only 14 out of 360 members of the Federal House of Representatives are female, and 7 out of 109 members of the Senate are women. In a country where over half of its population is female, we understand that in order to make progress that there must be political will for change. The correlation between political will and progress of women’s participation and inclusivity was highlighted at the conference with the example of Lagos State being a pacesetter where over 30% of commissioners are women and heading critical positions in commerce, education, establishment, poverty alleviation and the SDGs etc. In Lagos State there are 35 female High Court Judges out of 55 High Court Judges and 107 female Magistrates out of a total of 153. WISCAR thus advocates for the establishment and enforcement of gender inclusive policies to enable women to take their rightful place as co-developers in nation building. Towards the attainment of this goal of inclusivity and equal representation WISCAR calls for the adoption of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill.
- Gender Based Violence.
The conference highlighted the increased spate of gender based violence and sexual harassment in the country, and particularly condemned the killing of Mrs. Acheju Abuh, the Women Leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Wada Aro Campaign Council Ochadamu Ward in Oju LGA, Kogi State in the recent elections that took place. It is WISCAR’s position that all forms of sexual harassment and violence against women have no place in our democracy, in governance, in our homes and in our workplaces. WISCAR advocates that respect for the dignity of human life must remain at the core of our society and that every citizen man and woman must have the right to express their political preferences without fear of losing their lives. WISCAR applauds the passing into law of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition ACT (VAPP), and the opening of Sexual Assault Referral Centers (SARCS) nationwide. WISCAR calls for adequate funding of the law-enforcement agencies, referral centres, and gender desks in police stations to ensure that when contravention of the law occurs perpetrators are in every circumstance apprehended and brought to justice.
- Girl Child Education–
It was acknowledged at the conference that Goal 5 is the docking station of all the other goals. It was also highlighted that girl-child education was an important precursor to the achievement of Goal 5. WISCAR in collaboration with organizations like the ACT Foundation and Girl Force Alliance is doing its part to provide mentorship and leadership training for young secondary school girls through its Grow and Learn Initiative. While data shows a 9% decline in the prevalence of child marriage since 2003, and expects a further decline by an additional 6% in 2020, a recent UNICEF report however suggests that as a result of rapid population growth the number of child brides in Nigeria will in fact increase by more than one million in 2030 and double by the year 2050. At WISCAR we cannot allow the predicted state of affairs to manifest and, WISCAR calls for the adoption and ratification of the Child Rights Act in the 12 States where it has not being enacted, and lends its voice to the call for free and safe education for young girls from primary through secondary school which will further assist in ensuring access of young girls to a good education and enable them make healthy choices.
PRESENTATION OF THE DISTINGUISHED WISCAR AWARD
The Keynote Speaker, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Mrs Amina J Mohammed OFR was the presented with the 2019 Distinguished WISCAR Award following the reading of her citation by Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, WISCAR Advisory Board Member. The award was presented to her in recognition of her zeal for and stellar contribution to humanitarian efforts, her championship of the sustainable development goals, gender equality, good governance and as an exemplar to working women worldwide.
In her response Amina Mohammed expressed her delight at receiving the award and thanked the Advisory Board of WISCAR for the esteemed conferment. She accepted the Distinguished WISCAR Award on behalf of the resilient women of Nigeria.
CONCLUSION AND APPRECIATION
The Conference concluded with the graduation of the 10th Stream of Mentees of the WIN-with-WISCAR Mentoring Programme and a commitment from WISCAR to continue to advocate for more gender inclusive economic policies for the benefit of women and men, as well as the enactment and enforcement of laws and policies that promote the full participation of women in social, economic and political life.
Mrs. Bukola Smith, WISCAR Advisory Board Member and Fabia Ogunmekan WISCAR’s Executive Secretary gave the vote of thanks with special appreciation to WISCAR’s sponsors, donors and participants for making the 2019 WISCAR Annual Leadership and Mentoring Conference a memorable and glittering success.
The event was compered by organisational effectiveness consultant and social justice activist, Habiba Balogun and Rabi Adetoro, a Human Resource business leader.
For the Board and Management of WISCAR
Amina Oyagbola Fabia Ogunmekan
Founder/ Chairperson Executive Secretary
