An Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Olayinka Adewunmi, has called for better empowerment of the girl-child in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
Adewunmi made the call during the 6th edition of the Mayen Adetiba Technical Boot Camp for Girls (MATBC), organised by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Lagos.
The camp brought together 100 students from Lagos schools to showcase skills in constructing model houses powered by solar panels and wind turbines, demonstrating practical applications of energy efficiency in building design, among others.
At the innovation contest, Government Junior College, Agege (District 1) clinched the first prize of N350,000, followed by Reagan Memorial Baptist Girls Secondary School, Adetiba’s alma mater, which received N250,000. Wesley Girls Junior Secondary School, Sabo, came third with N150,000.
In her keynote address, Adewunmi described the initiative as both timely and transformational, noting that empowering girls in STEM would help create “a future where every girl has the opportunity, skills, and confidence to engineer change in society.”
She said STEM represents “more than academic disciplines; they are the languages of innovation, the tools of problem-solving, and the keys to unlocking progress in health, agriculture, energy, transportation, and the environment.”
Chairperson of APWEN Lagos, Dr Atinuke Owolabi, said the boot camp was designed to spark curiosity and passion for engineering among young girls. According to her, interest in studying engineering among participants rose from two per cent to 50 per cent after the sessions.
Owolabi pledged that APWEN would continue to support girls interested in STEM “until they qualify as engineers and build confidence in them.” She added: “The future starts now, and they are that future.”
APWEN President, Dr Adebisi Osim, said the hands-on approach had left participants more eager to pursue careers in engineering. “The practical experiments have proved to them that engineering is not only for boys but equally for girls,” she noted.
President of NSE, Margaret Oguntala, described the boot camp as one of APWEN’s most impactful STEM initiatives in over four decades, commending the organisation for “planting seeds of knowledge and innovation in the girl-child.” She said the programme aligns with Nigeria’s drive for greener and more sustainable urban development.
Founder of the boot camp, Mayen Adetiba, expressed gratitude to APWEN for sustaining the initiative, describing it as the first of its kind in the engineering world. She revealed that the programme had been scaled down to two days due to logistics but hinted at plans to extend it to a full week with comprehensive training in future editions.
Addressing the students, Rector of Yaba College of Technology, Ibrahim Abdul, stressed the importance of catching them young to reverse declining interest in core engineering courses. “If you are not careful, you will have all the students ending up in one easy way out. Our core technical engineering fields have very few applicants,” he warned, urging grassroots efforts to sustain STEM interest.
