The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has appealed to women in the maritime industry to halt their gender inequalities campaign as the reason why they do not get appointments in Nigeria.
The two-term Minister of Transportation urged women in Maritime Industry to focus on building their competence and lifting one another.
While speaking at the 2019 World Maritime Day celebration with the theme: “Empowering Women In The Maritime Community,” in Lagos on Thursday, September 26th, Amaechi said the appointments were not about gender but about the class one belongs.
Amaechi disclosed that “women can only get appointments if they merit it.
“I don’t agree with you on the idea of gender because the struggle is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, it’s everywhere in the world. It’s about the class you belong because there are millions of women and men who are dying of hunger. Women get appointments because they merit the appointment. I have female friends who are very educated.
“And one is Amina Mohammed who was a Special Adviser to the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. It was when Mr President visited the United States and saw Amina, that he was impressed with her and made her a Minister. Amina got to where she is today because she has a vision and wouldn’t listen to distractions. Life is about courage.”
“So I will urge women in maritime to stop begging because it is their entitlement. Women are manipulators and can manipulate men to sign what they wouldn’t want to sign. Women are more brilliant.”
He added that women should take power by themselves in a radical manner, learn how to lift people out of poverty.
“If China can take about 800 million out of 1.5 billion population out of poverty. Nigeria can also set that agenda to lift people out of poverty,” he said.