With the theme, Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world, the objective of the summit is to honour women in the public service, who have distinguished themselves by serving the country selflessly in various capacities, for the development of mankind and the female gender especially. The aim is to provide a platform for the upcoming generation of female leaders to have access to mentorship by these icons of our generation for further progressive advancement of the country.
The public sector in Nigeria is the engine room of government policy and programmes’ implementation for the delivery of developmental initiatives over the years. Though women in the public sector contribute immensely, they are hardly recognised.
According to a statement from the organisers, “this is the first-ever event to recognise and honour the women in the public service, both at the federal and state government levels in Nigeria. It is also a platform to deliberate on issues of national interest as they relate to the roles of women in the public sector in synchronisation with the private sector development and the economy in general.”
The summit will form a gathering of reputable personalities in Nigeria and diaspora to deliberate the process of encouraging government, elected leaders in the public sector, to imbibe the culture of partnering the private sector in seeking ways of providing long-lasting policies, programmes, projects, that are capable of impacting positively on the populace, irrespective of their social status in the society.
It is also an avenue to discuss the pathway for utilising optimal women potential for efficient service delivery in the public sector in the country.
To qualify for nomination and recognition, the candidate must be a woman serving currently in the nation’s public sector who is reputed for discharging her duties and impacting positively in the lives of women particularly and the general public. The event will also confer titles on outstanding women who have retired but recorded firsts during their time in public service.
Recognition categories include Outstanding female in the head of the service of the federation, (one in each of six geo-political zones) – federal permanent secretary; head of federal department; head of the federal agency; vice-chancellor/deputy vice-chancellor of a federal university; Rector of federal polytechnic; and impactful female federal minister of the year; Supreme Court justice; Appeal court Judge and Federal High Court Judge.
In the Federal legislature: most impactful house of the representative legislator of the year and most impactful senator of the year. Also, Medical Director of a federal tertiary medical facility, (one in each of the six geo-political zones).
For organisation/agencies, the awards focus on the following: Impactful female-led Agency of the year on Youth; Outstanding/Impactful female-led organisation of the year on diaspora and Outstanding/Impactful female-led ministry of the year on children, female.
At the States level, one female in each of the six geo-political zones will be honoured as Outstanding female head of service; female state permanent secretary; female head of state department; female head of state agency; female vice-chancellor/ Deputy vice-chancellor of a state university; female Rector of state polytechnic; female Medical Director of a federal tertiary medical facility and impactful female state commissioner of the year.
In the Military/ Paramilitary, the awards focus on: police officer with excellent performance records, self-less service, patriotism and integrity; army officer; naval officer and air force officer. Others are State Government First Lady NGO of the Year; Gender-Friendly Governor of The Year; Female-Friendly Bank of The Year and Female-Friendly Microfinance Bank of The Year. At the event, honours would be conferred on some female Deputy Governors in some states, and Head of Service of the Federation, amongst others.
