TOP MARITIME WOMEN IN NIGERIA
Monica Mbanefo
M
rs. Monica Mbanefo is one of Nigeria's
foremost legal luminaries in the
maritime sector and a legal gift to the
world. A lawyer with over 46 years of experience
out of which 39were spent in the transport and
maritime industry where she had been at the
centre in the formulation of polices at national,
inter-governmental and international levels.
Mrs. Mbanefo was Nigerian delegate to the
International Maritime Organization (IMO)
meetings of the Council, Assembly and Legal
Committee from 1984 to 1990. She led many
delegations to IMO and the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD).
Monica started her law career as a young lawyer
at the Federal Ministry of Justice where she went
through all the departments. This enabled her to
amass vast and valuable experience that made
her the choice of the United Nations in a job
contest amongst many candidates in those days.
She recalls that the Ministry of Justice where she
was mentored,they didn't just do the job but they
worked closely with the supervisors and
directors, and the experience was very
rewarding.”
“
Monica started her law career
as a young lawyer at the
Federal Ministry of Justice
where she went through all
the departments. This
enabled her to amass vast and
valuable experience that
made her the choice of the
United Nations in a job
contest amongst many
candidates in those days.
”
In 1991 she joined the International Maritime
Organization (IMO), and was appointed Senior
Deputy Director/Legal Office of the organization.
In this capacity, she was the Secretary to the
Legal Committee of IMO and secretary to several
diplomatic conferences which adopted Liability
Conventions and Protocols during the period.
As Director of Conference Division, Mrs.Mbanefo
was in charge of about 112 out of 300 staff of over
organization and reports directly to the Secretary
General- IMO.She was among the six contestants
for the position of the Secretary-General of the
international maritime organization in 2003. She
retired from the organization as Director of the
Technical Cooperation Division.
Talking about women, Monica once said, “Today,
women are captains of ships! There is nothing
that a resilient woman can't achieve! The fact that
they cope with managing the home, children,
babies and everywhere shows that they have
learnt to multitask and they can be very resilient.
When they want to do something they can be
very stubborn and persistent.”
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