"Throughout the nomination process for the Woman of the Year Award, Dr. Oboh-Ikuenobe was noted as a true role model for all current and future UMR students."

"I appreciate Dr. Oboh-Ikuenobe’s willingness to lead the department of geosciences and geological and petroleum engineering during this time of transition."

"Her leadership, mentorship and expertise in her field, combined with her institutional knowledge make her an ideal candidate for interim chair."

"Dr. Oboh-Ikuenobe is known for her passion for both undergraduate and graduate education and for her rich knowledge of academic affairs."

"She has been an outstanding interim, and I am pleased that she has accepted the permanent position."

"This leads to the lack of respect female instructors in STEM fields face from some students in and outside the classroom, and also from some colleagues."

"Over the years, I have counseled several young women who felt they were ‘not good enough’ to succeed."

"I often find out that some of these students were not encouraged or advised to pursue STEM subjects in high school, or to consider careers in STEM fields."

"Unlike their male colleagues, most female students and scientists lack the tenacity needed to succeed in STEM fields – they tend to give up easily if they fail at something."

"The women who persevere go on to achieve great successes in their STEM careers. “S&T has put many structures in place to ensure that women in STEM fields succeed.”"

"I have been perceived sometimes as being too aggressive when doing my job – be it research, teaching, service or administrative duties."

"A male colleague would probably not be judged in the same light, and other women I know have experienced this."

"The perception that I have advanced in my career because of my gender and race is one that has also come to my attention."

"Resilience has kept me going, in addition to the support I have received from several male and female colleagues, students and my bosses."

"As program head for geology and geophysics (my department has two other programs, geological engineering and petroleum engineering) administrative duties consume roughly 25% of my time. I work closely with the department chair on issues related to my program. The remaining 75% is taken up by research, teaching, and service. I typically teach two courses per semester, including graduate courses that I teach every two years. Some of these courses involve field trips."

"I have a very active research group and it currently includes four Ph.D. students, one M.S. student, and four undergraduates conducting research in my lab. In addition to interacting with these students almost on a daily basis, we meet as a group every 1 or 2 weeks. There is also time spent advising undergraduate students excluding those in my research group, writing and reviewing proposals and manuscripts, communicating with research collaborators, attending proposal review panels, committee meetings on campus, outreach activities, etc. Between running the geology and geophysics program and my duties as a faculty member I have a very busy job."

"My husband is an independent consultant and owns his electrical engineering/telecommunications company. He travels to clients' locations for work and is away from home almost weekly but is very engaged with our children's activities, working remotely with them on homework. I also travel several times every year, sometimes traveling abroad for field work, workshops and meetings. We have survived raising a family and balancing our careers by paying other people - students, their spouses - to help us with babysitting and transporting them to after-school and other activities."

"These are some of the things that I wished I knew before starting an academic career:"

"The freedom to dictate my research focus and the flexibility to work from home especially when I have to take care of a sick child sent home from school. Working in academia can be 24/7 because I work at any time but I have cut back on working during weekends to devote more time to family activities. The fact that I can impart knowledge about geology to students is also an exciting part of my job."

"Managing my time efficiently in order to achieve the right balance between family and career. I have reduced my service commitments on campus and set personal time aside to work on research and family matters. There are certain times when I close my office door just to spend some personal time. Competing for funding resources is increasingly getting more difficult and I have now developed research collaborations in order to attract funding. Some students can be challenging and I have had to send some to counseling."

"I was hired in part because of my research background in sedimentology and palynology, strong communication skills, and the challenge to take on a new culture especially in small town America. The other reason I was hired (I found out later) was that I was relaxed and comfortable throughout the interview process."

"There is need to emphasise that education is now going the way of e-learning. The polytechnic has three e-learning centers, in addition to two units donated by NITDA. As much as we have encouraged staff to be computer literate, it is also necessary that students begin to imbibe the correct use of computers for learning."

"The polytechnic is governed by rules and regulations which you are all expected to be conversant with."

"I urge you to remember always that you have this polytechnic as your ambassador. Those who graduated before you held afloat the worthy banner of this school. You can do no less."

"It began with the mandate to train skilled manpower in engineering, sciences, environmental studies, business studies and art and design."

"We are now in better stead to continue to improve on teaching and learning environment in the polytechnic."

"Already that issue is being looked into and while that issue was going on, we called the unions and we told them what was happening and at a stage the bursar and the national leadership of SSANIP met at the budget office to actually see what was happening with our salaries and they saw it and they equally realized too that it was not an issue of Auchi Polytechnic alone."

"The effort will help to curb the issue of importation of skilled manpower and address the challenges of unemployment in the country."

"The entire world is moving toward technical and vocational education, which is what we need; we need people with skilled manpower. We import skills to do our roads but we have them in the polytechnic sector."

"It only requires us to develop the curriculum to suit what the nation needs at a particular time and redirect our focus to this area to train the manpower needed."

"We must appreciate the efforts of the Rector, Dr. (Mrs.) P.O. Idogho who has taken giant strides in all areas since she came on board especially in human capacity development for both academic and non-academic staff."

"Those caught with fake credentials and certificates would be expelled while those caught engaging in examination malpractices would be rusticated."

"The school wants to ensure conducive learning environment for all students rather than admitting students that would overcrowd its facilities."

"132 offices would be commissioned for the use by workers this year."

"Students should incorporate ICT into their learning in line with global trends."

"Federal Government should focus more on the development of technical and vocational education to achieve sustainable economic development."

"Technical and vocational education would provide the skilled manpower needed to drive the economy."

"Nations who were desirous of development had made technical and vocational education their priority."

"We import skills to do our roads but we have them in the polytechnic sector."

"Government should ensure that only people with verse knowledge of educational institution were appointed to head such institutions.This became necessary as it would not only ensure a seamless and uninterrupted academic calendar, but also the growth and development of such institutions. (NAN)"

"The unpaid salary arrears ought not to be an issue, as it was not in the control of the polytechnic."

"Well, the polytechnic is on a platform where payments are made directly from the CBN into individual accounts and last year December we had a short fall of the salary and this salaries have already been uploaded. We only interact with the issue of salary online where somebody reviews and another person approves."

"When we did approval it was showing insufficient fund and so in January this year we wrote to the office of the accountant general and the minister of finance to complain."

"For January we were paid and they got their salaries through December system and that is what we have been using for quite some time now. So it ought not to be an issue because they all know it is not within the control of the polytechnic."

"That the management of the institution was able to curb cultism through productive engagement of its students."

"Nigerians had failed to encourage leaders, who had done well in their various professions."

"Unfortunate attitude is discouraging people from giving their best to the growth of our country."

"Students want to learn and that is why we are exploiting that avenue. We keep them busy with academic and entrepreneurial activities and leadership training. That is why we have experienced phenomenal reduction in cultism in the school."

"My positive performance in office in her first tenure might have influenced the decision of the Federal Government to re-appoint her for a second term."

"Nigerians need people who are dedicated and are ready to work and serve humanity but we need people to encourage them to do so and more."