Thirty-eight-year-old Miss Lilian Igwe is one of the women in Ebonyi State shattering the glass ceiling. Igwe, a National Certificate in Education (NCE) holder is a welder who now has many apprentices under her tutelage. This is in addition to being a hairstylist and a computer engineer. Igwe, who hails from Ezza Umuhuali, Ishielu Local Government Area of the state, has grown to love welding as a profession and wants more women to join the profession. Due to her passion and desire to give back to society, Igwe went to her church to announce that girls interested to understudy her in order to become welders should contact her.
She also told the church that the training was free. After months, about three girls came, but none of them stayed long enough to learn the work. According to her, she had briefly worked as a hairstylist and computer engineer after her Education at the Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo.
Then she abandoned both to go and learn welding in Bayelsa State. When she got to the state, she became an apprentice to a woman there. After two years, she returned to her state to start her welding workshop. She said: “My major reason for returning to Ebonyi was for our government to notice and recognise me in the way that the Bayelsa government recognised my madam.
The government supported her with N40 million for being the only female welder in that state.” Remembering how it all started, she said: “I first learnt hair dressing, but each time I was doing it, I wouldn’t be happy. Moreover, I discovered that I spent more time gossiping with women who came to get their hair done.
I just wanted something that would keep me so busy, that even friends wouldn’t have time to stop to chat with me. I needed something different from what other women had been doing. After I fell out of love with being a hairstylist, I went to study Computer Engineering. I was looking for where to learn how to work on the motherboard of computers and every other thing that is inside computers.
I can uninstall and install software but that motherboard was what I liked most. I checked where I would learn it and I couldn’t find a place, then I decided to go into welding.” Igwe said that she was excited the first day she saw a woman welding. She also noticed that the woman did the work with finesse and expertise, with several customers waiting for her to attend to them. Igwe recalled: “This was in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Someone took me to her workshop, and I saw what she was doing. I developed interest and that was how I went into welding. I learned the work from that Bayelsa woman.
I now have 11 boys learning this work under me, and I have been in it since 2017. I was an apprentice under my madam for two years. I don’t know whether the government of Ebonyi State will notice me, but I pray that one day, luck will smile on me.” Speaking about her customers, Igwe said that they adore her. She added: “Without them, I wouldn’t have succeeded in this work. They are good to me and I don’t joke with them. I give them my best and they bring more customers, and that is how this work has been growing. I get patronage from customers within and outside the state. There is even a Reverend Father that called me from overseas.
He asked me to design 96 doors for him, which I had finished and delivered.” Due to high demand for her services, Igwe sometimes has to call colleagues in Bayelsa to come and help her out. She said: “I used to call colleagues in Bayelsa State to come and assist whenever the work was too much for me. The most important thing is to meet up with customers’ demands.
I don’t like customers complaining that I delayed their work. Many of my customers complain that my work is too expensive, but I always explain to them. What makes our work expensive is that we use quality materials, and we use what people are not using. Whatever you see here in my workshop, any gate I build here, you will not see it in any other shop. I have my own unique designs. You’ll not see any of my designs anywhere, and that is what has been bringing customers to me. I get my designs from different angles and I go online to see what people are doing within our state. People abroad also send us designs.
I have people abroad that send us designs to work for them, and after working for them, I will decide to do one as a sample and keep it in my workshop.” Igwe stated that she was a fulfilled lady, stressing that she had been able to achieve so much. She called on ladies to avoid idleness, and look for something meaningful to do in order to overcome temptations that come with being indolent. She stated: “My male colleagues treat me well. Anything we are doing as a group, they must first call me before other colleagues.
They call me ‘Chair Lady’ and I’m happy because I’m the only woman in their midst.” Asked about her present challenge, she replied that it had to do with the government attitude towards artisans. She explained that the site given to artisans was too small. She fumed: “I can’t even manage it! I have three generators, a caravan and 11 boys, so where will I keep them and all these? I want the government to just look into this issue. We’re interested in moving, but not the way they are doing it. Let them just give us time.” Igwe said that one of her business principles was to tell new apprentices that a woman owns the welding workshop, so that they will decide whether they are all right with the idea of learning the work under a woman or not. She said that she wouldn’t like a situation, where she will be disrespected or physically engage her in a fight with them.
She said: “Yes, I have to tell them on time that a woman owns the workshop so that they will decide whether they still want to learn, and if they want to learn, then they must be obedient. To my fellow ladies, I think I have done my best. My work is dirty according to what people tell me, but if there is no government job, keep yourselves busy by learning some work. I worked as a salesgirl, but I discovered that the money I was being paid was insignificant.
One day, I worked on a guy’s laptop and after work; he gave me N10, 000 as a gift. The amount was my one month’s salary. It dawned on me that I had been fooling myself, working as a salesgirl. I asked myself, when would I be able to make enough money to at least give someone N10, 000? “I ruminate long about my life and my job as a salesgirl.
My boss even owed me three months’ salary. When I asked him to pay me, he said that I should leave, that the cashier would pay into my account. But till date, that money had not been paid. I bought this Lexus Jeep and went to show it to him. I bought the car with money made from my welding work. He was happy for me.”
Igwe, who said that she was okay with her welding work, revealed that she’s comfortable. She has furnished her house to her taste and now pays her siblings’ school fees. She has become empowered and doesn’t depend on anyone. “I celebrated my mum this year and I bought a motorcycle for her. I told her that if her prayer keeps working for me, I will celebrate her next year in a bigger way. Maybe I will get her a small car, which she’ll be using to cruise around. It’s my desire to have a place of my own where I can do my work, and I know that it will not be long before it comes to pass,” Igwe prophesied.