The Minister of Women Affairs Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim has charged female vehicle mechanic to challenge limiting norms and shape the future in engineering bays, energy labs, construction sites, and manufacturing floors as nation builders.
The Minister spoke at Benin City, Edo State at the graduation of 50 young women trained in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicle conversion through the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and Lady Mechanic Initiative.
While commending the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and collaborating partners for the catalytic initiative, she said the graduation was a validation of the possibility of bold policies meeting courageous women and a testament of the Renewed Hope Agenda empowering Nigerian women with the tools, skills, and platforms to shape the future.
She reaffirmed the Ministry’s unwavering commitment to ensuring that every Nigerian woman and girl has the tools, space, and support to thrive in engineering a new Nigeria.
“These 50 exceptional graduates are not just the products of a training programme; they are the forerunners of a national transformation . The future does not wait and neither should you. Go forth, lead, and build the Nigeria of your dreams.
Together, we are proving that when women rise, nations thrive,”
Sulaiman-Ibrahim appealed for an attitudinal shift, on how technical and vocational careers that are frontiers of innovation and economic relevance, are viewed and pursued by women, because “Careers do not have gender and dreams do not have ceilings,”
She lauded the efforts of the Founder and President of Lady Mechanic Association of Nigeria, Sandra Aguebor, for training 1,500 lady mechanics in Nigeria, stating that the Renewed Hope Agenda, would expand the interventions to train and empower women drivers and female tricycle riders; with clean energy vehicles, safety knowledge, maintenance and financial literacy skills.
She charged graduates to seize the moment as pioneers, pathfinders, and nation builders, use their skills fix engines, passion paradigms and build enterprise.
“let your voice shape policy, and let your presence challenge every outdated assumption. Be role models, be mentors, and be torchbearers for the next generation of female innovators,” She charged.
The Minister was decorated at the occasion as a Matron of the Lady Mechanic Association of Nigeria.
The Minister also paid a courtesy call on the Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo who she commended for progressive leadership and longstanding commitment to empowering women and girls and restated the critical importance of inclusive development and the role of women in driving Nigeria’s industrial and energy transition under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
The CNG conversion skills initiative equipped the graduates with the requisite skills in the quest to have more women breaking barriers in male-dominated sectors, while driving our clean energy transition, and shaping Nigeria’s future.
Olusola Akintonde