Nigerian Woman wins easy Competition

Honour came the way of Nonyem Odili at
the 10th Commonwealth Women's Affairs
Ministers Meeting held between June 17
and 19 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, when her
essay won the first prize in a competition
on women leadership.

In the presence of about 2,000 people
from different parts of the world,
Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina;
and Commonwealth Secretary- General
Kamalesh Sharma, presented Odili with a
trophy as the winner of the first position
under the 18-29 age category in the
Commonwealth Women in Leadership
Essay Competition, which focuses on
engaging the youth in promoting gender
equality and women empowerment within
the Commonwealth.

Tang Sze from Malaysia came second in the
15-17 age category.
A panel of 22 adjudicators, in consonance
with the 10WAMM theme of 'Women's
Leadership for Enterprise', selected Odili's
essay, which proffers reasons and ways
governments could promote women's
involvement in leadership and policy-
making processes in their countries,
among entries from participants across the
Commonwealth's 54 nations.

The judges note that Odili's piece best
highlights the importance and significance
of having more women represented in the
economy and in decision-making
processes, global financial markets, leading
banks and national policy making bodies.

A statement from the organisers indicates
that Odili, in her essay, undertakes a
comparative analysis of select countries in
the Commonwealth to highlight the
"overwhelming number of women"
excluded from leadership positions
globally; while pointing out that a
progressive democracy can only be
achieved with the involvement of women -
the significant majority of the world's
population - in the decision making
process.

"Without key implementations in place,
such as education, encouraging women in
leadership is like drilling an oil well with an
office pin," Odili is quoted as saying.
Another Nigerian, Edem Andah, came third
in the 18-29 age category for her essay
advocating an all-inclusive renewed
socialisation and political education
process granting women greater
participation in leadership.

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