…My ambition is to operate an aeroplane one day
From Emmanuel Uzor, Awka
At a tender age, life dealt a great blow to her and her family following the death of her father. Since the demise of her father, life has become a mixture of struggle and lesson.
But determined to survive in the face of life challenges, Miss Ugwu Precious Chisom, who hails from Aji in Enugwu-Ezike in Enugu State, braced up to help her mother fend for her six children.
After secondary school education, Previous now 28; enrolled into fashion business as a tailor all to make ends meet, a venture that consumed her ambition to further her education to become a pilot.
When economic challenges bit harder as her siblings grow of age, posing greater threat to her mother’s megre income coupled with the fact that tailoring job could not provide the needed backup for her family, she left for Lagos.
While in Lagos, young Chisom got a cleaning job through an agency where she was being paid N30,000 monthly.
Also realising the high family needs especially in the area of school fees for her younger siblings, she sought for extra means of earning legitimate money.
She had opportunity of entering Dangote Refinery in Lagos where she joined welding business to learn how to weld big metal pipes in the company. However, fate wasn’t nice to her as shortly as she started the welding business, it started affecting her eyes, making her to ditch the work and went into driving.
In this interview, she talked about her life odyssey. Excerpts
How did you get involved in this driving business?
Before I joined them, I was a cleaner at Sahel company in Lagos. It’s one of the partners of Dangote, they employ workers and send them to Dangote. So, I was a cleaner there and God helped me to meet somebody whom I explained how I took risk to go to Dangote without a gate-pass so I was lucky because the woman helped me to get a gate-pass. She asked me if there’s nothing I can do except this heavy machines and I told her that my spirit just wants to go into big things. So, I joined welding job and when sparking of electrodes started, it affected my eyes. When I went into welding, I started having issues in my eyes, I had to stop. So, one day as I was going home, I saw excavator machine and I said this is my next job. So, I told one of our friends, a Delta man and he started laughing at me and said I should not go into it. I tried to convince him, but he was not seeing it from my own angle, so I left him and started looking for ways to get it done. I started wandering about, looking for somebody who will understand my dream. So, I met one guy who works with Chinese people.
He didn’t ask you for any guarantor before teaching you the job?
Yes, that one was like God-sent because immediately I told him, he accepted it and said for a young lady to have the courage to learn how to drive and operate heavy earth-moving machines like excavator was strange. He told me how much they pay to learn it, but because of my courage, he waved it and asked me to enter the machine so we could start. I jumped into the machine and it was my first time. He wanted to test my courage and when he saw how I jumped into the excavator and started the engine, he was marvelled and that was my first day. He then told me that another problem was that he was on night duty and if I could be available to be learning it at night and I quickly told him I had no other job doing in Lagos; that I can do it. So, he was happy because when I learnt it, I was handling one of the sites for him because he had two sites at one other place and Sea Port. So, the way I was operating the excavator, I was now helping him at one of the sites while he was at the other site because his boy who was handling one of the sites had travelled abroad. The man said for me to have this determination and focus that I didn’t come to do like some women; he will make sure that I learn all the heavy machines in construction. That it is going to be his own assistance to me so that whenever I go to look for job in any construction company, I will always find in any case there’s no excavator job available. So, that whenever there’s no excavator job, I can always get any one available. He said he wanted me to be rugged. So, he started taking me around to other operators of heavy machines and that was how I learnt to operate every heavy machine in any construction company including crane lift because I have operated that one in Port Harcourt.
How many months did it take you to learn these heavy machines?
To be honest, it wasn’t up to six months. All of them because I was eager to gather the knowledge, you know somebody who does not have anyone to assist her in life. I was like, what they were paying me at Sahela company for the cleaning job was N30,000, so it was not enough for me to take care of my family. We are six in our family and I am the eldest, my father is late, leaving my mother and six children struggling.
How did you combine the knowledge of operating multiple heavy machines?
To be honest with you, I asked my boss about this and he told me that it was easier for anyone to learn the biggest and most difficult first. He said excavator was the most difficult so, learning and mastering it made every other equipment very easy for me. It’s like somebody who started driving manual vehicle before driving automatic. It is easier for you to drive automatic after learning manual, but it will be somehow difficult to drive manual when you first learnt how to drive automatic cars. When he explained all these things, I was more emboldened to move on. He now took me to another heavy machine, the earth-moving roller machine and he was just testing me to use my knowledge and operate it. Standing there he asked me to enter and operate it. It was my first time again, but he said to me, assuming you run into this situation and everybody is expecting you to save the situation, just do what you think should be done. That was how I jumped into the machine, turned it one and using my experience in excavator machine, i began to operate it to the chagrin of everybody standing. He had told me that I have mastered the works of the levers and using that experience, I can always operate any heavy equipment. My experience in that compacting machine for the first time was something else. The way it vibrated almost made me fear, but I was already resolute to survive. The man was just God-sent. He saw I had so much passion for the job and he gave me all the support.
How do you export your trade or market your craft?
That’s the problem because I am yet to get certified. I have tried to get trade test certificate, but it’s not been easy. So, what I do is whenever I go to any company, I will explain to them and will be ready for test. Whenever they listen and give me opportunity to operate, I always impress them and they will give me the job. I wanted to get the trade test certificate in Nasarawa State when I went there for work, but I didn’t stay long enough to pursue it. But I am seriously looking for a way to get certified.
How did you get the present job?
Since I relocated to the East, I started with RCC when they were doing work at the Enugu Expressway two years ago. When I came back from Lagos and went to the village, there was this job I got, but it’s sewing job because I am a seamstress by profession before joining driving. So, one day I was coming from my shop at New Haven, I saw RCC working and then I went to them and told them that I am an experienced heavy equipment operator and they started laughing at me and at the end they gave me opportunity. Because my boss told me that anywhere I go in search of job, I should first mention excavator before any other equipment. He said I should not let them know that I operate other equipment because if they know, they will assign me to the smallest because I am a woman. He told me that excavator is the father of all equipment because it’s always on duty from the first day till the last day of any construction and I will be making my money. So, when I met those RCC men after looking at me and having enough laughter, I was lucky I had Dangote identity card so, I showed them and they were convinced.
What school did you attend?
I attended Ugbake Technical College, Nsukka.
So this talent has been from school?
No what we learnt in the technical college had nothing to do with my present job because we were only taught how to bake bons and other consumables. Originally, what I learnt was sewing. I’m still sewing clothes, my shop is still there and my younger sister is the one managing it now while I hustle here with excavator. I had to teach my immediate younger sister.
Can you still sew clothes now?
Very well, I still handle sewing machine very well. With one leg I can sew. My sister is in my house as we are talking because she came to learn how to use industrial machine. She doesn’t know how to operate industrial machine except that butterfly sewing machine so I told her to come so she can learn it because that’s the order of the day.
Does your mother support this job?
I didn’t tell her. It is when I started giving her money that she was asking questions if I had joined prostitution, but I had to do a video of me handling the heavy machines and sent to my younger sister who then showed it to her, she was amazed. But she was aware when I was doing welding job.
What are the side effects of this job?
Everything under this sun has side effects. In this my job, pains are too much after operating the equipment. So body pains are to much.
How do you mitigate the side effects?
I engage in exercise, sports and swimming.
How do you cope with men?
It’s an experienced based job and not gender based. Though there is this discriminatory aspect where men are more often than none given preference than women. For instance, when I went for interview in this company I’m working for, I got there, there was this boy who also came from Abuja and another one known as Mighty. So, we came the same day for the same job to do test. All of us passed the test, but something happened. I was the first to come, so it was expected that since three of us passed the test, they should have asked who was the first to come, but they didn’t do that because I am a woman, so they dropped me and gave it to one of the boys. I felt bad, but I didn’t relent. I had to change channel and tactics and that was how I got the job. So, it’s not easy to compete in a men dominated profession. Despite your expertise even much more than the male folks, the society still has more soft spots for men, but I don’t get demoralised because I can always beat them in the field despite being a woman.
Why did you choose this path as a woman?
I have always had my eyes on big tasks right from my young age. I started driving my father’s 504 car at the age of 12 and nobody taught me how to drive. It has always been my ambition to one day operate an aeroplane. That was why I went to Aviation College, Zaria in search of assistance to fulfill that dream, but unfortunately, I didn’t have anyone to assist me. I thought I could get help, but I couldn’t, so I had to come back.
If you have opportunity of rejoining the Aviation College would you still go?
Of course, I am 28 years and it has been my dream to be pilot. So, when the opportunity presents itself, I will welcome it with two hands. As a matter of fact, it is aeroplane that I have not had opportunity to operate and that is my ambition. It was the reason I delved into operating heavy duty equipment in protest to my inability to secure the job.
If you have opportunity of joining the military, which of them would you like?
I will always like to fly. So piloting Nigerian military jets won’t be a bad idea. But then, when the opportunity presents itself, we will see how it goes.
What’s your advice to young women who still see your job as impossibility?
Nothing is impossible. If your mind can conceive it, you can achieve it. In the world of today, nobody should leave anything she has passion just because it is dominated by men. Honestly, the best job to do as a woman is the one men do more. All you need is to learn the trade well, be an expert and then your gender will always soften the hearts of people and with prayers and hard work, you will excel. So, I urge other women to brace up and take shots at any job available.
What’s your appeal to government?
I ask the Federal Government to look into our plight. Some of us who risk our lives to serve as inspiration to younger generation should be taken care of. There should be incentives for special women like us through training and retraining to be able to train others. Federal Government through the Ministry of Works can help us by providing us with necessary safety kits and operational licence to be able to stand and feed our families. I need assistance to get licenced and certified as well as training abroad. This will help me in no small measures to train others. There are many women who want to be like me, but opportunity has not come. So, if I am empowered, I will establish a training centre for younger operators who will use modern equipment in construction.