Women engineers are rare in Nigeria, insists professional body

The Association of Women Practicing Engineers in Nigeria has called on parents, guardians and governments to encourage girls to become engineers as a profession.

President of the association's Calabar chapter, Justina John Ulafor, made the call during a day-long workshop on "She Engineers and Digitization", where she claimed there is a shortage of female engineers in the country.

Engineer Ulafor confessed that the association is doing more outreach to encourage young girls to see the value and benefits inherent in the engineering profession.

According to her, "We did our STEM exams to see how we can encourage female secondary school students to take the exams.

"We want to bridge the gap through what we do: encouraging girls to pursue science by embarking on a career in engineering.

"For others who are already engineers, we encourage them to take a mentorship program, Capacity Building in Entrepreneurship, because an engineer is supposed to be an entrepreneur."

Also speaking, Incoming President Engineer Faith Edu said their mission was to "encourage girls to pursue careers in engineering and break down stereotypes".

The event included scholarships and awards.