Expert calls for increased female representation in leadership positions
A gender indicate, occupational health and environmental safety expert, Dr. Cynthia Obiorah has underscored the need for increased feminine illustration in management positions across all sectors.
This, she said, is major for Nigeria to like a flash observe the actualization of its developmental aspirations.
Dr Obiorah acknowledged this at the weekend everywhere in the Nigerian Chapter’s Females In Security Excellence (WISE) Workshop and Awards 2025, themed “’Breaking Boundaries: Empowering Females for Transformational Management’.
Held nearly, The Guardian reports that the gathering drew a various viewers alongside side policymakers, scholars, activists, students, and representatives of world organizations.
The convention spotlighted the systemic boundaries limiting females’s discover entry to to management roles in Nigeria and across Africa, whereas offering life like solutions to bridge the outlet.
In her remarks, Dr Obiorah, who's the coordinator of the Nigerian Chapter of WISE, emphasised the importance of encouraging extra females to step into management roles within the protection profession, and creating inclusive pathways for declare and innovation.
“We're no longer right here factual to focus on about exchange—we are right here to be the exchange. We can no longer focus on about nationwide fashion without striking females at the center of management.
“Our skills, perspectives, and experiences are critical in shaping a safer, extra equitable society. The long term of management is inclusive—or it's incomplete,” she acknowledged.
Dr. Obiorah, known for her work in occupational health and environmental safety, emphasised the hyperlink between gender equity and sustainable fashion, calling for targeted reforms in space of enterprise policies, tutorial curricula, and governance structures.
“That is no longer the tip—it's a ways a starting. A brand novel chapter the attach females lead no longer as exceptions, however because the usual in occupational safety,” she added.
In separate remarks, incoming President of the American Society of Security Experts (ASSP), Linda Tapp and founder of SOWSHE-A and CEO of CTS Globe, Funmi Adegbola, echoed the need for sustained empowerment and structural inclusion of females in excessive-impact safety roles.
The tournament also featured panel discussions and breakout intervals addressing a unfold of elements, alongside side gender-sensitive protection making, space of enterprise harassment, mentorship for young females, and illustration in political decision-making.
One panel titled “From the Margins to the Mainstream” integrated contributions from Hon. Zainab Aliyu, Member of the Residence of Representatives, and Ifeoma Udoka, Govt Director of the African Females’s Vogue Network. Each audio system echoed the urgency of institutional reforms and grassroots mobilization to shift cultural attitudes about gender roles.
The tournament concluded with the unveiling of the Abuja Declaration on Females in Management, a protection framework developed by a coalition of academics and gender rights groups geared toward guiding institutional action over the next decade.
The declaration outlines commitments to magnify funding for females-led initiatives, put into effect gender parity in govt appointments, and mix management coaching for girls at secondary and tertiary training ranges.
The tournament also featured the presentation of the management excellence award, conception to be one of many tournament’s high honours to Dr Obiorah and other famed recipients. The award celebrates those that possess demonstrated visionary management and made measurable impacts in safety practices and culture.
