‘If I come again, I will still be a Nigerian woman’

 Right  in her Surulere, Lagos office, where this interview took place, Omowunmi Lakanu looked every inche a responsible and disciplined woman. Sporting a white top on a  black skirt, this  Economics graduate of Universty of Ibadan  gave a detailed introduction of herself. “Though  I’m from Ekiti state but I’m Yaya Aare Akoko of Lagos, meaning that I’m a chief in Lagos state.

“ I’m the CEO of Lake-Andrews Ventures Limited, we have three companies, we have the oil and gas,  gift items and  we have the below the line advertiser. I read BSC Economics from University of Ibadan. I started my career as a banker so I did quite a few  of the banking exams before I left banking for advertising,” she enthused.

Growing up

Growing up was good. I’m from Ogun state and Ogun state is cosmopolitan if I should put it that way. So, they won’t think in the direction of educating the male children first before the female ones. I’m from a humble bankground. Humble in the sense that my father wasn’t a wealthy man but we lacked nothing. He was a civil servant, my mother was also a civil servant. They both worked. My mother was a teacher and my father was a chairman in a local government.  So, to them, they valued education be it male or female. And also, I’m from a family where we had a lot of girls. My mother has four girls and a boy and we all went to the university.

Today’s women

You see, this day and age, women are doing much more. I have seen where the females are taking care of the children more than the male would do. People then prefered male children because male children would carry on with the family name. They didn’t look at so many other things. You see, if you ask me, the woman is the owner of the house. She most of the time  dictates what happens in the house. The female ones are the ones that take care of the children including their husbands. Husbands are seen as their first child. So, if you can permit me, I would say that  to me women are more imporatnt than the men.  I said this after considering some factors and some of our duties as women. I for instance, I’m a career woman, when I close from the work, I go home to take care of my husband and children. This is true. You see as a career woman, no matter how tired I am, I cannot allow my husband to go into the kitchen and prepare meal for himself. I will be the one to do it and it thrills me that I’m taking good care of my family.  I’m happy to be a woman, if I come again, I will still be a woman. If there is anything called reincarnation I would still love to be a woman, a Nigerian woman because that is the place I know. I do not know of any other. So, let me talk about the one I know. You cannot wish for what you do not know. I have no regrets being a woman.

By ADAEZE AMOS