Managing director of NEXIM Bank, Mr Abba Bello, has urged organisations to embrace equity in their workplaces so as to accommodate working women.
Bello spoke at a NEXIM Bank event held to mark the International Women’s Day this month.
Bello, who described himself as a ‘He for She’ said in addition to having jobs or professional careers, women have more responsibilities as mothers and caregivers. Hence, organisations need to think outside the box to enable them to give their best at work.
He said organisations can embrace equity in the workplace through the establishment of a creche section for working mothers and hiring competent female employees.
“This is what we do at NEXIM. At one point, we had nearly a 50-50 male to female workforce. It wasn’t planned. We simply hired the best hands for the organisation,” he said.
He further urged organisations to be gender-sensitive when it comes to redeployment, training and skills upgrade.
Bello, whose daughter had to quit her new job because she was posted to a different state, four months into her marriage, said men in positions of decision-making should be sensitive to the needs of its female staff to enable them to give their best at the workplace.
Rather than set up seven-weeks training, Bello said institutions can break it up into bi-weekly courses or virtual sessions to prevent situations where female staff are absent because they are unable to stay away from their families for longer periods of time.
As part of activities to mark women’s day, NEXIM Bank recognised three women for their contributions to the society. The honourees include founder of The Maryam Lemu Marriage Academy, Maryam Lemu; the commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim and the country director, Pathfinder International, Dr Amina Aminu Dorayi.
The women addressed the staff on how to stay focused to achieve their goals, the importance of good health, wellness practices and motivated them to be the best version of themselves.
Speaking at the event, Lemu said women have no cause for complaints today, especially those who have access to digital technology but may not have access to formal education. She said such women “can learn from their homes and turn their mobile phones into their classrooms.”
Lemu said, they and the rest of the society can work together towards ensuring that less privileged and vulnerable females obtain digital access.
“The key thing is let people who have access make it possible for more women to have access to digital technology because once a woman has access to knowledge and learns, she can empower her family, teach her children better and hopefully generations after her will have a better life than she had.
She advised women to “tune off the negativities and focus on what they can do. The possibilities are limitless, but you just have to try. We are able to accomplish tremendous things once we lock in into our target.”
On her part, Hon Imaan Sulaiman said Nigerians must work together to address the many challenges faced by female refugees, migrants and IDPs.
“In matters of displacement, women are the most hit. They lose their privacy, which as women, we know how important that is. They also suddenly find themselves the heads of their households. We must work collectively as a society to address these challenges.”
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