A SPECIAL lecture and award ceremony tagged 'The Educated Female and Nation Building' organised by the Senior Staff Club of the Nigeria French Language Village, (NFLV) Badagry has drawn attention to the need for government and all stakeholders to take concrete steps towards addressing the issue of gender imbalance, insisting that no society can develop when majority of women still remain illiterate.The guest lecturer, Group Managing Director, Union Bank, Mrs. Funke Osuboju, expressed concern that Nigeria was still among countries with the highest number of girls out of school.With women and children constituting the most vulnerable groups in the country, she said it had become imperative to improve and bridge the gender gap by adopting and institutionalising principles and ideas that would promote gender equality.She described the disparity in the access of males and females to education as a major setback in women empowerment. 'Let there be a level playing field for women to be competitive in the society and be able to make a positive impact therein. Women should be allowed to use their skills and potentials to compete favourably with men'.According top her, with the benefits of education and increasing awareness campaigns, women are today breaking out of cocoons of complacency, self-pity and suppression or oppression to assume important roles in the development of the nation.With women now making astounding impacts in Commerce, Industry, Banking, Education, Administration, Religion and Politics, she emphasised, formal education is considered critical as Education would further contribute to the development of skills, knowledge and improvement for active participation in all aspects of life in the society.Speaking at the programme, which was also used to kick off the annual beauty pageant by students, Director General of the Nigerian French Language Village, Prof. Sam Aje described the programme as enriching, urging the young female participants to set relevant goals for themselves and strive towards attaining those goals.'As ladies, you must be yourself, maintain dignity and strive to command respect. The time is ripe for women to prove their worth. Opportunities and avenues are available for women in Nigeria to get to the top and excel, not just in academics but socially, intellectually and spiritually,' he said.He also drew attention to the need to train the girl child. He affirmed: 'If you train a man, you train an individual but when you train a woman, you train a nation, you train a potential mother who will pass on good values and virtues to her children. Our goal is to celebrate beauty, elegance, knowledge and excellence. We must set good role models for young girls to emulate, so that they too can aspire to be at the top through hard work, dedication and commitment and must shun all form of vices'.Aje, who on behalf of members of the Senior Staff Club and students, presented awards to some awardees for their contribution to the society and the institution, also commended the female recipients for being role models to women in general.President of the Senior Staff Club of the village, Mr. Ifeanyi Odoh explained that the essence of the ceremony was to create awareness about women empowerment and to encourage women to take up the challenge to aspire for greater roles in the society.'There is no limit to what a woman can do, we want our young girls to realise that they are not inferior to anyone. They can be engineers, pilots, politicians and anything they want. All they need to do is work hard towards achieving that,' he added.Despite societal challenges, Odoh said young girls should be encouraged to redirect their minds and youthfulness towards positive activities. 'Looking at beauty pageants,, people don't dignify it because they feel it is degrading for women to expose their bodies. But here, we teach the students to see themselves as role models, dress decently and are not debased or degraded. We want to promote beauty and womanhood in a positive manner'.While he was of the view that the government is not doing enough to empower women in the country, Odoh charged the girls that physical beauty could be deceptive. ' I urge young girls to be independent, they should aspire higher and know that no job is the exclusive preserve of a man. They should make themselves relevant at home and in the society. If the country focuses more in training girls to contribute to the society then Nigeria would be better off for it'.
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