*She was a patriotic nationalistic Nigerian, says NSE, APWEN presidents
Members of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria, (APWEN), have described the immediate past President of the association, late Engineer Funmilola Ojelade, as a strong, dedicated, innovative and irreplaceable leader who gave her all to the service of humanity through her profession.
President, Nigerian Society of Engineers, (NSE), Tasiu Gidari-Wudil, stated that Ojelade is a detribalised Nigerian and a devoted Christian who has proven at many occasions how nationalistic and patriotic she is in the discharge of her duties.
He made this known during a valedictory council meeting held in her honour by APWEN, yesterday in Abuja.
Urging her fellow APWEN members and others to emulate her good virtues, Gidari-Wudil said “my appeal to those of us who are alive is to emulate her, she is a detribalised Nigerian, a devoted Christian but I always receive her Friday prayers and that tells you how nationalistic she has been and how patriotic she was.”
Describing her close work and relationship with the deceased, APWEN President, Elizabeth Eterigho, said Ojelade remains one of the strong figures APWEN has had because of her dedication and teamwork spirit, she is humourous and someone that always ensures she finishes whatever projects she starts.
“I want to say that Engineer Funmilola, I call her my presee, we call her digital president, is very humourous. She is a finisher, some people will start and will not finish but Funmilola will start and then she will finish the program, she is so meticulous, plain, straight forward and a woman of integrity, I am very, very sure of that.
“We will miss her a lot. She brought APWEN to this level as far as presence and online program is concern. As her then vice president, during the COVID period she ensured that we held our conference online and we had speakers all over the world speak to us.”
She said ” in the last message she sent to me from her hospital bed, she said the Bible said that many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivered him out of them all.”
Also, Valerie Agberagba, 9th APWEN President said that ” It is difficult to talk about Funmilola in past tense, I have known her for more than 25 years, we have come a long way.
“She was a friend, a sister, my IT tutor. She was committed to APWEN, was thorough and loved God. I know she has gone to rest but the time we had with her was too short, she still had a lot to do.”
On her part Lagos Chapter APWEN Chairman, Monsurah Abimbola described the late immediate past President APWEN as someone who impacted the entirety of APWEN members because of her goal getting attitude and achiever personality.
“She is someone that actually had impact on everyone of us be it young or old because she always went for whatever she believes in and that is why some of us call her one woman MOPOL, others call her soldier woman because when she is doing something, she makes sure that she carries everyone along and even during the COVID as a president, she made sure we use technology to keep working.”
