Mr Tasiu Gidari-Wudil, President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), has advised members of the society to emulate the stewardship service of late Mrs Funmilola Ojelade, who was a member of the society.
The president gave the advice 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 News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ojelade, a staff of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM), died on March 22 after a brief sickness.
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 NSE.
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.
Mrs Elizabeth Eterigho, the current President of APWEN (17th), 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.
Mrs 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.
Mrs 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. (NAN)
