 You're welcome back to the breakfast on plus TV Africa and we have good news for you. You probably hit this over the weekend but it's a conversation that we should continue to have because of you know the impact it's having in Nigeria. Remember when we were talking about the head of the WTO and just how much of a giant stride that was for Nigeria for Africa for women empowerment and now we see that of about 23 top management positions in Nigeria. There are seven that I headed by women right now and it's fantastic when we look at them. There's Bukola Smith, she's FSH, merchant bank CEO. There is the CEO of Fidelisi Bank in Neka Ikepe. There is the CEO of Santos Bank Halima Bubba. Those are the pictures of the beautiful, intelligent women who are running things and making things happen in Nigeria's management space regarding banks. There is the CEO of Unity Bank Oluwatumi Sumefun. There is the CEO of CMB that CMC do. There's the CEO of GT Bank Miriam Olusaya. I think this is a big, big win for women. This you know we keep talking about when we talk about you know gender equality women's traveling to the top. We keep talking about the absence of female role models and I think these women really have given any woman, any young lady watching, seeing and hearing this news, that it is possible. You can make it to the top even though you know when you hear women speak they talk about how it's definitely possible but it seems that the woman have to work many times harder but it's great to see that you know women in Nigeria are leading banks and in top management positions. We'll ask you a quick question. Do you think any of these female bank heads earn less than their male counterparts? Well that's a trick question. Anyway yes so we're celebrating women today and like I said earlier it's a good thing you know it's a great step that we've you know taken and it's a good thing of course that you know GTB which is of course the latest that made Miriam Olusaya their CEO. Olusaya, okay. They have led us into this conversation this morning. I think it's only about 23 percent or 27 percent of the total number of bank MDs that currently exist in Nigeria and from an article that I read it says that it should be at least 40 percent. Yes that's the goal that they're working towards. Absolutely so it's a brilliant thing you know and it really just also shows like you said that any of these positions that you mentioned anyone whatsoever you know can be run by either you know man or woman. There's no god ordained position you know in any institution that has to be run by you know men you know and so I hope that this continues to inspire more women and more you know girls or females who are currently in the banking industry or any other industry information technology healthcare to understand that they can get to those you know heights and they can't get bank heads and that includes it's not very often that you even get to see hospitals have chief medical directors as female I don't think there's anyone that I'm aware of but those are some of the places that we also need to populate with women because I've gotten to realize and over time we've gotten to see that when women hold some of these positions there's always some level of better management somehow some way for those who don't agree well that's you know fine but I have always believed that we we need to find a way to populate you know our management you know positions with more women and that includes also in governance let's populate them with women let's see how much better things might be run let's see what difference it will make I am all for it a thousand percent let's see what difference it would make let's see you know how we can have a female touch a woman's touch with regards governance on every single level across Nigeria and regarding the new CEO of GT Bank Miram Oluthaya when I read about her story and all the things she's achieved it just inspires me like every other woman that you can definitely do it I mean she's shown commitment on her path especially in the banking sector joining the bank in 1998 it's been a trainee I believe I'm telling you over 23 years of dedication and commitment to her career path women can definitely break bounds in any field I have had the pleasure of doing feature stories on female software engineers it was a story that won an award at the United States Girls Impact Award Film Festival last year in April 2020 that's because I told stories about women who are doing things that seem to be in a male-dominated field you know women can definitely do you better and I think women should begin to think different you know if you are interested in machine learning whatever it is that it seems men are dominated I mean you can go ahead you know I've like I told you I've had the pleasure of speaking to women who are doing things in male-dominated fields and they say when they finished their you know secondary school did a YAC people tell them oh I want to why don't you go learn hairdressing why don't you go learn fashion designing and one of them I will never forget what she said she said not that those options are bad some people genuinely love to design clothes genuinely love to create beautiful styles of hair it's fantastic but she says how about machine learning how about AI how about software engineering how about these things why is why is it that the societal inclination is not towards those fields for women why is that I think those are for men so that's why we need to get more women in STEM because if you are an art student even though it's possible I mean look at one of them her name is Mrs. Yemisee Edo CEO of FCMB she has a bachelor's degree in chemistry you know and now she's in banking seems like different but there's STEM so we need to get more women in those STEM fields in you know science in technology in engineering in mathematics so that they can begin to think of career paths along those lines and definitely would make strides put Nigeria on the global map and achieve great things for their country yeah so I think it's not just it's not you know necessarily getting more it is accepting more it is also changing the narrative from you know childhood that doesn't necessarily always have to force girls in particular direction and allowing the girl child to be able to decide what she wants to do and where she wants to be and the direction she wants her life to take there is a stereotype expectation for female children from you know from birth see Osirige you just said it and just picking up from that I've heard stories about women who go on to do great things in robotics they say their parents put them or their parents put her toys of like cars you know robots and they break them and fix and they discover that they loved that path so if we continue to have the stereotype stereotypical or my daughter is a girl or I have a female child so I'll buy her only Barbie dolls not that that's bad but when you find parents expose their child to a lot of things in childhood you find that they're able to grow in that line one of Nigeria's you know foremost child saxophone players Timmy I did a story about her as well a year or two ago she she's she's done amazing things she's received generous donation and gifts from Nigerian singers including DeVito how does she get get start playing saxophone her father bought her a toy saxophone or these miniature ones and that's how it is so I think from childhood we have the opportunity now to have access to information so we can we have that this information is power so we have that power now to begin to know that when you have children expose them to all these things let them make the choice let them make them pick not just Barbie dolls and then a woman feels the only thing she can do is make hair which is also great but there are other options she can explore so yeah absolutely so open the doors up for for everybody you know to have a you know fair you know for a fair chance you know at getting into those positions I don't agree with the fact that oh you know you start dragging female females and forcing them into some of those no definitely not forcing to be there exactly like for example that lady if she never if she never was exposed to that she would never know that oh this is a field that she could love and potentially find fulfillment into it opening up the options for women to know that you can do much more beyond the conventional opening opening it up and also allowing you know and and also um given given you know the freedom you know to a woman to make that choice for herself um and decide that this is what she wants to do exactly when she makes that decision well from a family of doctors you must be a doctor the woman should be able to love and and when she makes that decision also giving her the freedom to grow and to thrive and that also includes husbands see and include when you talk about this I was going through it right on on instagram yesterday Osawa Gay the woman there were conversations about how there were female doctors whose careers have been killed by their husbands because they never let them take professional exams they want to do and people are saying oh if you're a woman get all your degrees in the bag first before you get married because the man so we should also have the education for the men that even when you're married you should allow your wife to thrive why can't your wife be the head of the world back why can't your wife be the president of Nigeria I mean men should also have that orientation that they should be able to support women as life partners not for women to have the thinking that oh my husband will subdue me he wants to you know repress all my dreams so let me get all my certifications let me achieve all my goals first I mean what's the essence of having a life partner she'll be able to grow on this journey called life together towards a vision so men should also begin to have a rethink as to you know what exactly they believe well I'm not a marital expert you know but I and I agree um um but I think you know when well I've never been married but when you know couples get there and when couples get that they you know they eventually can't make a decision on you know who takes the lead with you know being able to chase financial abundance um either the man or the woman or both yes yes they both not but it also is a career woman I said I want you to be a full-time housewife oh well it depends on I mean if that happens it depends on me or Miriam she would never be the CEO well it really it really is it depends on what the marriage is like a lot of times um so for some marriages is convenient for some what marriages it's really not and so um it depends on what it is like a lot of men would be insecure because they would rather take on that burden by themselves um if it is not convenient for both of them to do that at the same time they would rather take it upon themselves and say okay you relax let me do it because when you know there's failure with regards finances no one's going to blame the woman all right we need to go congratulations to Miriam Olusoia as I was corrected the new um MD for Guarantee Trust Bank and the six others and congratulations in advance to all the women who will be reaching those um heights very soon um this is where we draw the curtains on the breakfast this morning my name is Annette Felix do make sure to catch up on all our programs at PLOS TV Africa as well as PLOS TV Africa lifestyle and I am Osawa Ghee see you tomorrow