‘I began work prepared for bullying by male colleagues’

Many youths, especially ladies, would never think of doing the greasy work of servicing cars, changing engine oil, tyres, wheel alignment or balancing. But Miss Okeh Ogechi Gloria looks beyond the messy grease in her male-dominated job. Plus many male customers prefer her handling their vehicles.   Adorned in safety gears – industrial boots, protective […]

Many youths, especially ladies, would never think of doing the greasy work of servicing cars, changing engine oil, tyres, wheel alignment or balancing. But Miss Okeh Ogechi Gloria looks beyond the messy grease in her male-dominated job. Plus many male customers prefer her handling their vehicles.

 

Adorned in safety gears – industrial boots, protective eye glasses, hand gloves and a jacket with many pockets for carrying working tools, Ogechi is amazing to watch as she plies her trade in the workshop.

She uses a headscarf to cover her hair when she goes into the pit or under a vehicle in the service bay to change engine oil. She is a Service Technician at the Total Service Station in Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.

Ogechi said she never dreamt of becoming a technician, but she knew when an opportunity presented itself and she grabbed it with both hands. This happened after she graduated with a Diploma in Computer Science. The opportunity that came her way was to train as a technician who services cars, do wheel alignment and balancing.

She did not seek the consent of her family before she accepted the offer and started as an apprentice in Lagos. Her take was that if a fellow lady was celebrated then as the first lady-mechanic in Nigeria, why not she being a service technician.

“I started the apprenticeship about five years ago and was prepared for the bullying from male colleagues but luckily for me, when they realized that I don’t complain, they softened and that was how I overcame and became an expert in Lagos before I was transferred to Abuja. I can now operate a computerized wheel balancing machine, do alignment, use a modern tyre-changer and a fully automated compressor to inflate tyres at ease,” she said.

Seeing the number of jobless youth in the country and not aspiring to be one of them, she said “I told my family that there is nothing wrong with being self-reliant in an ever demanding profession of servicing cars, because the number of vehicle owners keeps growing in Nigeria due to lack of a functional public transportation system. They later backed-off and allowed me to carry on with the my job which involves staining ones working jacket with grease, handling dirty tyres, cars that have accumulated dirt, over-heated cars among others demanding services.”

She said as an apprentice, some men didn’t allow her to service their cars. They claimed that she doesn’t have the strength to tighten the nuts and that she will be too concerned with protecting her hair or body than working towards customer’s safety and value for their money. With time however, most of those men changed their mind when they realized that she was very meticulous in doing her job.

Technical work is prone to accidents and Ogechi had her share. As an apprentice, she once injured her hand while loosening a rod in order to do an alignment inside the service pit. When she complained to her manager, thinking he will tell her to close for the day, he told her to “Just do it” while reminding her that others were waiting in the queue. She continued even with the pain. She said since then, she’s been more careful when untying very hard nuts.

On work preference, Ogechi said she does not have any favourite. According to her, it really does not matter if it is servicing, changing of tyres, wheel balancing or alignment. Daily Trust observed her as she worked on the four tyres of a Toyoto Tundra SUV with dexterity.

She called on youths who are very selective on what type of trade they should learn to grab any opportunity that comes their way because white collar job is not easy to come by these days.

Mr. Adedeji Adeola, the manager of the service centre, said it is the company’s policy to encourage females especially those within the technical sector to excel, adding that they are in partnership with the first lady mechanic in Lagos to train ladies.

But for Ogechi, her ambition is to own a service centre where she will train the youth, especially ladies, in vehicle servicing and maintenance.