Folake Solanke, the first female senior advocate of Nigeria has identified five national calamities that Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) should tackle to celebrate their future legacy.
The calamities, according to Solanke, are human trafficking, especially young girls, brain drain, depreciation of the naira, insecurity and loss of reading culture.
Solanke spoke at the WIMBIZ 20th annual conference where she was the chairperson, last week. The hybrid event themed ‘Celebrating Legacy’, was a celebration of the non-profit’s 20 years of impacting women in Nigeria and beyond, based on the foundation built by its founders.
“Your corporate achievements in the last 20 years are being celebrated at this conference. Having dealt with 20 years, let us now focus on the future legacy. Our beloved country is going through tough times. WIMBIZ should not remain silent on these national calamities,” Solanke said.
Speaking further, she said “WIMZIB should raise their voice on public protest. Some of your members are in the public service. They should address us on how you can engage the government and public on how to stop the brain drain so that our country can prosper and enjoy the expertise of our professionals.”
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Solanke recalled that about five decades ago, the naira was as strong as the dollar and at par with the pound sterling but now it is nearly N600 to a dollar.
“People are now dying of hunger because of the astronomical cost of food items. WIMBIZ should involve a strategy to raise a public alarm and awareness against the further devaluation of the naira, and protest and advocate for the resurrection of the naira to a reasonable exchange rate,” she said.
Other speakers at the event charged delegates to build formidable legacies and emulate pace-setters who have shattered glass ceilings, overcome adversity, broken stereotypes, enabled empowerment, and created opportunities for all.
In her keynote speech, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), gave lessons on how WIMBIZ can build good leadership to sustain its legacy.
“Be yourself, don’t try and be someone else because when you are pretending to be someone else, you don’t always give your best. Also, learn to be humble and simple. I have seen people that when they get any senior position or power, change so much. Avoid this because some of these positions are temporary,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
Similarly, Julia Gillard, the first and only female prime minister in Australian history shared personal attributes in building and sustaining lasting legacies
“Be very clear on your sense of purpose; know what it is that you want your life to amount to. I always advise people to write down their sense of purpose because it is a clarifying exercise and when you are facing your toughest days, you can re-read it to sustain you,” she advised.
