The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of News Engineering Nigeria Limited, Lady Josephine Nwaeze, on Saturday, gave emotional insight into how her appointment as CEO surprised her.
According to her, she was named Chief Executive after her husband, Sir Ojimadu Nwaeze, died in the 2006 ADC plane crash and was followed by her son, Ugo some years later.
She also commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the bold decision of removing fuel subsidy, saying it was a hallmark of bold leadership which portended well for the country in the long run.
According to her, consistency, resilient hope, and trust in God made her overcome the adversity and take leadership of the company.
Although established in 1983 as a domestic electrical installation company, News Engineering was said to be at the forefront in the installation of renewable energy in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria since 2015.
Nwaeze, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, stated these at the closing ceremony of the national leadership conference organised by GOTNI Leadership Centre in Abuja.
Speaking on the topic, “Networks and networking for success”, renowned motivation speaker and chairman, Frasernet Inc, United States, George Fraser, called for beneficiary relationships, noting that the success of all depends on others.
Nwaeze said, “I call myself an emergency leader because the position I am occupying now, I wasn’t prepared for it. I woke up one Sunday morning as a wife and had time with my husband. My husband travelled and he never came back. He died in the (ADC) plane crash and I couldn’t understand it and I was still expecting him to come back. The leadership of the company was thrusted upon me.
“My son (died) later, I started mentoring this boy from secondary school because he was more like the father. He relates with the people, I said, ‘Ugo, you are going to be an Engineer’. I gave him every support and then he died. I said it’s time for me to go now and sit down and then depression set in, anxiety, sadness, grief, fear of the unknown everything.
“But then as the leader, I had to weigh my options. What happens? I will be in a most difficult situation. Then I had to gather myself together. I started leaving a triangular life from my house to office, from my office to church every day. God gave me a lot of comfort and strength, then I continued moving. So there are three things that have made me overcome these times: consistency, resilient hope, and trust in God.
“There are a lot, I expect people to learn from me, number one is consistency. Whatever you do, you need to be consistent with it. Secondly, don’t lose hope because the moment you lose hope, it’s over. Always look forward to something better happening and then always develop a positive mindset. As a leader, you need to be positive at all times irrespective of what you are going through.”
Fuel subsidy removal
She said, “He (Tinubu) said I am going to be your President, I will remove the subsidy and I will be your President and the first thing he did was to remove the subsidy. That’s why he earned my respect as a leader. He is a leader, a leader should be the one that is able to solve problems.
“The removal of the subsidy is inevitable. I think it’s good for the President to take that decision. What Nigerians are looking forward to is accountability. We are after what and how things are going to better our lives. So if the President can also look into that area, I think it is something that we are all going to be happy about.”
Also speaking, the CEO of GOTNI Leadership Centre, Dr. Linus Okorie said there was a need for Nigeria to invest multi-billion Naira in leadership development.
He said, “The United States, as a country, spends more than $160 billion every year for leadership development across the country. My thinking is that everybody in this country who runs a company, who runs an organisation must create a budget for leadership development.
“To run the public sector and private sector, the government must invest billions of Naira in leadership development because leadership capital development is specifically connected to growth.
“It’s opportunity cost, it is either you invest in the leadership capital and then growth is driven or you don’t. It is either you invest or you won’t be able to produce the type of leaders that would connect with the central government and drive the type of growth we are talking about.”
Speaking on the outcome of the conference, Okorie expressed optimism that Nigeria was going to experience unprecedented transformation.
“There is going to be sustainable leadership that would begin to drive leaders like never before. My thinking is that it is high time Nigeria started investing heavily and creating a budget for leadership development because the future of Nigeria is tied to leadership development.
“The future of Nigeria is tied to the quality of leadership capital that leaders at different levels are able to actually create. The truth of the matter is that Nigeria must make progress; institutions must make progress, organisations must grow. But at the heart of it all will be the quality of leadership culture that exists within organisations.”
