‘Women should not be afraid of hard work’

Town planning is a field with very few women, how were you able to surmount the hurdles to become a town planner?It started when we were all in school. Like in my class, I was virtually the only woman and from an early stage I started working with men. As a woman you have to […]

Town planning is a field with very few women, how were you able to surmount the hurdles to become a town planner?
It started when we were all in school. Like in my class, I was virtually the only woman and from an early stage I started working with men. As a woman you have to prove yourself before you are accepted. That means extra work and you just have to keep up the pace with the men. So you are always on your toes to prove that you are capable of doing what the men can do.

What inspired you into the field of town planning?
During my Higher School Certificate I loved geography. It is a very vast subject and there is also regional geography  in which you talk about cities. The talk about planning a city impressed me a lot. The fact that you can just sit down and design a city and see it come alive was what inspired me. When we were young and see big cities, we often wonder ‘so it is a man that created these and it has become what it is today?’ that was when I  had my passion for town planning.

What is your advice for young females out there who will like to go into the field of town planning?
Just hard work. Hard work never kills. It prepares you for a lot. Whatever profession you are in, once you are working hard, once you enjoy what you are doing then the sky is your limit.

The Nigeria Institute of Town Planners FCT chapter recently gave you an award of recognition, how do you feel about the award?
I feel very elated and happy. I wasn’t really expecting it because I thought I was just doing my job. I didn’t know that people were watching and observing what I was doing. During the citation among other things, they said I organized Abuja Town Planners Day and invited two serving ministers and a serving senator, something that no other person who organized  previous Abuja Town Planners day never did. I was lucky because it wasn’t me alone that did the town planners day. the staff from this department helped out, we all worked. Whatever job you are doing, do it to the best of your ability, that was  earned me the award.

As a career woman and home maker what are your tips on successfully combining career and the home front?
What I do is that when I come to the office, I forget about my house and when I go back to my house I forget totally about my office. That is how to strike a balance.
It can be tiring but make sure you strike a balance. Like when my kids were in school and growing up whether I was very tired or not, I always asked them what did you do today? And make sure I cook.
My weekends were very much occupied because that is when I do my shopping. It got to a point where I asked my mother, how did you cope? Because you find out that as the children were growing, you just have few friends like maybe the mother of your kid’s friend or their classmates in school, those were the circle of friends you have.
I told myself it was just for a while as the children grow you become more free. Thank God that I got married and had my children and we all grew up together.   When I was growing in the office, they were also growing and now that I am at the peak of my career they are all grown up.

It is often said that poverty has the face of a woman, as a town planner are there ways you factor the needs of poor women like widows, and beggars and their shanties in your plans, because what we see today seem mostly planned for the rich?
There was nothing like planning for the urban poor before. But now we have mass housing for urban poor. What I often tell women  whether they are  head dressers or office workers, work for government, traders or whatever they are  doing ‘If you have  100 naira please save 10 naira for accommodation because accommodation is key.
When you are accommodated whether you eat two square meals nobody knows. Because the landlord wouldn’t come to demand for his rent. So start  saving and deposit in a mortgage bank.
As trader take out from your profits, take to the bank and save. Some  of them remove profits and at the end of the year use it to buy clothes. We have mass housing for the poor now. I know of a company that is planning for market women.

In this part of the world it is the men who provide accommodation for the women and you are saying women should save to acquire houses?
A woman can always join with her husband to save. If both of you save, you can easily get the accommodation that suits you. Saving for accommodation will also help widows.

What is your take on women empowerment?
Women should ask questions because government has put in place measures and places where they can to get empowered. But most of the times they just think it is for dash and it makes everyone of them lazy, because if you know you are not going to pay something back you eat it.
 But when you remember that you are going to pay back, you work extra hard to make the best use of whatever you are given to empower you.  
I also think parents should educate their girls. Even if it is just giving them minimum education like secondary school. They can always later in life learn things that will help them because once you can read and write and once you have attained SSCE and even if you are married and stay at home it helps a lot.

Is there any other thing you will like to say?
Women should not be afraid of hard work. Some married women just sit down and have children . Hard work I repeat does not kill anybody. Whatever it is that you are doing even if it is frying akara try it and present it well and people will remember to come back and you will make sales. So hard work is the key.

What do you think are the challenges to  effective town planning?
The major problem is lack of budgetary funds to execute some projects. Government is trying but as you know the resources are dwindling because if there is enough money if you make your plans you can execute them.
We have to share limited funds for so many things. Abuja is growing and when you go to places and consider the number of years construction has been done here you will praise the government for what we have achieved as it is not easy developing a city because of infrastructure and others.