Engineers gathered in Lagos and other cities to pay glowing tribute to the late President of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria, APWEN, Engr Funmilola Ojelade who passed on recently, reports, My Engineers.
The Deputy National President of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Engr Mrs. Margaret Oguntala, led the tribute at a service of song organised by the South West zone of APWEN in honour of late . Ojelade in Lagos. Some of the chapters who joined in the zone simultaneously include Ota, Ilesha, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Osogbo, Akure, Ikorodu and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) chapters.
Ojelade, who was the immediate past president of APWEN, a fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers and member of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers, died on March 22, 2023 after a brief illness.
Born on October 15, 1967 in Ibadan, Oyo State, she hailed from Ife-East Local Council of Osun State. Ojelade had her first degree and Master degree (M.Sc.) in Chemical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and University of Lagos, Akoka respectively. She also had another M.Sc. degree in business and management (finance track) from University of Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
“You must live an indelible mark on this earth before you go, let’s learn how to forgive one another, let’s care for each other, concentrate on God’s works.”
Popularly referred to as ‘our digital president’ by colleagues, she was a women-in-tech-role advocate, a certified engineer by the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). She served as the 16th president of APWEN, a non-profit organisation that promotes women’s participation in the engineering profession in Nigeria.
During her tenure as APWEN President, she introduced the APWEN “Town & Gown”, a mentoring programme and an avenue through which engineering graduates could build employability and entrepreneurial skills required for engineering industry and workplace.
She was in the employment of Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc. until her demise. Ojelade was part of the specially drafted task force mandated to produce the target volume of the restructured banknotes required to launch the nation’s new currency in 2006, and also headed the Industrial Waste Management Unit of the company.
In her tribute, Mrs. Oguntala described the late Ojelade as a diligent woman, who strove for excellence at every task she was saddled with. She added that Ojelade was APWEN ambassador, who worked hard to improve the fortunes of professional women engineers in Nigeria.
Oguntala said the former APWEN’s president exit is “a lesson to everyone, particularly those in the profession to re-examine their conducts, promote the ethics of the profession as exemplified by Ojelade and be good to one another.” She advised practitioners to leave the profession better than they met it.
“She was a woman, who represented engineering profession very well. She was passionate about the profession and ready to stand in gap whenever she was called upon,” Oguntala said.
The 15th president of APWEN, Dr. Felicia Agubata in a tribute said Ojelade brings out the best in people and was always ready to assist others to achieve their goal. According to her, Ojelade lived a good life and served humanity with all her strength. She challenged professional colleagues particularly young engineers to continue the good legacies she left behind in the profession.
The First graduate of Agricultural Engineering in Nigeria, and former President, Engr Idiat Amusu, noted that Ojelade was respectful, industrious, focus-driven and an achiever, who also prioritised God in all activities. She described her as a woman who ran her tasks in flying colours.
Immediate past APWEN South West coordinator, Mrs. Bose Oyekunle, said Mrs. Ojelade’s demise was a huge shock for the association. She described her as someone who showcased others as the best, accommodative and gave room for people to excel.
In a sermon, the Conference Editor, Methodist Church, Nigeria, Very Reverend Olusola Makindipe, charged her family members and colleagues to rejoice and not to mourn as her death coincided with the Passion Week in Christianity.
Reading from the bible in Psalm 23, Reverend Makindipe urged the gathering to develop friendship with God who provided all things and died for the sin of mankind.
“We cannot say we wont have a replacement of her but it will be difficult to have somebody like her, very innovative, her leadership was seen in running the APWEN, and by extension NSE, I will appeal to those of us who are still alive to emulate her.”-Engr Tasiu Gidari-Wudil
He said the Mrs. Ojelade did not disappoint her primary vocation and profession during challenging period of COVID-19 pandemic as she championed the use of technology to carry on with activities of the association. He explained that she used what she has to ensure intimacy among APWEN family and fulfilled biblical prophesies as captured in Philippians 4:13.
In her speech, a family representative, Mrs. Yetunde Adebisi (nee Jekayinfa), in an emotional voice recalled that late Ojelade carry out her role with all sense of responsibility, strict but gentle and kind.
“She was a great influencer and a mentor. I’m proud as a family for what she was able to achieve in her lifetime. She stepped out and valued learning and never limited herself to engineering profession. As a family, we are grateful and comforted by the impact she made,” Adebisi said.
NSE President urges Members to Emulate Ojelade’s Stewardship
On Friday in Abuja, at the funeral service organised in honour of the deceased by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), a division of the NSE. the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr. Tasiu Saad Gidari-Wudil, advised members of the society to emulate the stewardship service of late Mrs Funmilola Ojelade, who was a member of the society.
Gidari-Wudil described Ojelade who was the 16th President of APWEN, as a woman who dedicated many parts of her live while on earth to the service of Engineering Profession. He said that the deceased was a very strong woman, innovative in her leadership role with APWEN, and by extension NSE.
“We cannot say we wont have a replacement of her but it will be difficult to have somebody like her, very innovative, her leadership was seen in running the APWEN, and by extension NSE, I will appeal to those of us who are still alive to emulate her.
“Ojelade was a detribalized Nigerian, a devoted Christian because I always received her Friday prayers every Friday, this tells you how nationalistic she was, how patriotic she was.
“I will urge everyone of us to emulate her and pray for her to be on the right side of the throne of God. I pray for the family because it is a sudden shock to us when we learnt of her demise.
“We pray to God to give the immediate family the fortitude to bear the loss,” the President stressed.
“During COVID-19 when everything was silent with most associations, Funmilola never allowed our association to be silent, she was up and doing in the association’s activities, her death was a huge lost to us,” Dr Eterigho
APWEN President Dr..Elizabeth Eterigho, described the deceased as a humorous person whom everyone would like to be with, because she express her mind on issues straight.
She also described Ojelade as a woman who provided answers immediately to challenging issues, adding that many members of APWEN have drawn from her wealth of knowledge.
According to Eterigho, the deceased was a very close person to her because why she was the president of APWEN, herself was the vice-president, and by this they are always close together where she learnt a lot from her.
“During COVID-19 when everything was silent with most associations, Funmilola never allowed our association to be silent, she was up and doing in the association’s activities, her death was a huge lost to us,” Eterigho stressed.
Engr. Valerie Agberagba, the Ninth President of APWEN who disclosed that she had known the deceased for almost 25 years, described her as her IT tutor whom she would miss a lot. She also described Funmilola as a fellow of the NSE who mentored young Engineers, by impacting knowledge into them, and prayed to God to continue to be with the young peers of the society who will miss her most.
According to Agberagba, the deceased had always advised young engineers to be strong and to be ethical in the profession of whatever they are doing.
Engr. Comfort Emenyonu, a fellow of NSE and member of APWEN who gave the first Christian sermon, advised members to live a life that they would be remembered for.
Emenyonu who titled her sermon as “What will you be remembered for”, taking from the book of Ecclesiastes 9:5 and Hebrew 9:27, stated that everyone must die, but they should be remembered for something. According to her, Funmilola played her role before she left this sinful world, and prayed to God for everyone to be able to walk in the way that will bring impact to people’s life.
“You must live an indelible mark on this earth before you go, let’s learn how to forgive one another, let’s care for each other, concentrate on God’s works.”
Also, Pastor Dan Ogu of Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), Jesus Embassy Parish, Province 18, admonished Christians to prepare to meet God after death.
The pastor who titled his sermon as “Truth be told”, said all Christians need to know about death, adding that death is a constant and frequent occurrence which happens everyday.
He said that the holy book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 2 had testified that there are time to be born and there are time to die, saying that every living must taste death hen the time reaches.
He therefore encouraged everyone to prepare for death and prepare to meet their creator, and that after death, judgement follows.
Shattering the Glass ceiling: Five talking points for Women in Engineering in 2021
APWEN President, Funmilola Ojelade won Harvard’s Derek Bok Public Service Prize 2021