Welcome Dear WIG.ng!!!
Pleasantries done! Now, if I may ask, as a woman serving in government in Nigeria, what is your personal contribution in the government space and what value do you place on yourself, which can be translated to your work?
I had mentioned to my cousin that I was working on establishing a Foundation, and her immediate response was “I am certain this Foundation is centred around women or girl-child education”. I beamed with joy at her accuracy. Yes! It is all about women, but Women in Government? Even I am surprised.
Often, when I, alongside a couple of friends, who are also WIG.ng are asked what we do, and we respond that we work in government, specifically the Civil Service, we get very weird stares. Sometimes we are told, “it is not possible”, as we don’t look and act like women who work in civil service. I got the nerve to ask a few, why they had said that? And the answers are usually the same, “you guys are well spoken, and your appearance and comportment is not like the regular civil servants”, “you are not eating groundnut in the office or demanding some monetary gratification to do your work”, “you work during the weekends”. These are the most common responses. I usually react by telling them the truth, that all my friends who work in government are not as they allege. It however, seems like many of these people have their minds set on this belief. I later found out to my chagrin, that this notion is shared by a wider number of persons. This bothered me, A LOT, and I took the challenge to create WIG.ng as an attempt to relieve a large number of WIG.ng from this wrongful indictment.
Most often, various existing platforms converge to draw women from all works of the private sector, to deliberate on varied pressing issues with no specific attention to women in Government. This has stirred in me, a burning desire for deep consideration of the needs of women in government. It is therefore timely that such a platform came into existence to engender the space for WIG.ng to thrive.
Our job is critical, not only because we are employed to serve over 180 million Nigerians, but also because as women, we have the innate ability to nurture and influence our environment to operate at maximum capacity, and produce the best. Without full access to necessary tools, lack of adequate training, a meagre income, lack of room for creativity and innovation, among other huge impediments evident while working in the government space, it maybe asking too much of anyone to be and give their best. On the other hand, we understand that Government alone may be unable to proffer timely and suitable solutions to this longstanding dilemma. As a non-profit organisation, WIG.ng will attempt to bridge this gap by sourcing and providing adequate support in various forms, to equip WIG.ng, setting them on a path to fairly compete with their counterparts in any part of the world.
Hinged on this purpose, and on the significance of seamlessly merging the idea of working in the oldest institution to reflect 21st century demands on the quality and quantity of ones work, WIG.ng will converge to learn, discuss, share, be mentored, and receive relevant advice, with a view to improving their capacity, ensuring that they reach their fullest potential, and exploring various avenues that would put them on the global map.
As we set sail on this journey, I envisage that we will build a platform, which will impact the lives, output and future of WIG.ng, and ultimately set the standard of competence and dedication to serving our nation, Nigeria.
Once again, welcome to WIG.ng!
Nwatam
Founder.