Mrs Mahmud, Mrs Mas'ood

40

January, 2023

"Hauwa Sufyan?" He smiled when she turned around and outstretched his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Gabriel Chiwendu and I'll be showing you around. Lucy-Anne should have told you about me."

Hauwa smiled back, keeping her hands behind her. "Hi, Gabriel. It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry, I don't shake males."

He let his hand drop with an awkward laugh. "My apologies, Hauwa. It's just that there are a lot of Muslim women here who don't mind, that's why I automatically assumed you were one of them."

She kept smiling, solely out of politeness. "It's alright. I'm not one of them and I'll like it if you kept that in mind."

He nodded with an expression she could not decipher. "Right." His smile returned. "I hope you easily found your way here? I was really sad when they said you come in last year. Happy New Year by the way. Sorry, I should have started with that."

Hauwa exhaled quickly yet quietly. "Happy New Year to you too, Gabriel. And yes, I easily found my way here. I ran the route during the last days of the year so I wouldn't get lost today and it paid off. About last year, I guess we just weren't meant to meet until today."

"Well, I'm glad either way." He then put his hands in his pockets. "Come, let me show you around. We don't have time to just stand idly, there's so much to do. I hope you're up for the task."

"I'll try my best."

The Finance Department was one out of eight departments in the Corporate Services Directorate of the bank. While the directorate's task was to provide support services to the main core departments of the bank (furnishing them with human capital and material supplies as well as information technology infrastructures), the finance department was mandated with the implementation of the bank's accounting policy and sound financial and budgetary controls for integrity of the bank's financial records and statements, as well the performance of financial analysis of the bank's projects, Naira investment portfolios and pensions.

Hauwa paid attention to Gabriel's every word although she already knew so much from the vigorous research she carried out. Like in any other institution, her job as a financial analyst made her responsible for a number of activities which included data gathering, information organization, analysis of historical results for forecasts and projections, financial recommendations and models as well as reports and presentations.

Gabriel introduced her to the other financial analysts and Hauwa noticed that the men outnumbered the women. She also did not fail to notice the way Gabriel introduced her. He said "This is Hauwa Sufyan. She's replacing Lucy-Anne and she doesn't shake men".

A few men laughed it off and made remarks that Hauwa shrugged off. They all said they hoped she wasn't as uptight as Lucy-Anne and she had no idea what that meant or if she was to take it as an insult. She put it at the back of her mind to text Lucy-Anne when it was all over.

The head of the department had not come in by the time they reached his office so Gabriel showed her around the other departments in the directorate as they were all closely knitted and had to work together like parts of a well-oiled machine. Hauwa began to notice the stares of males and the judgmental looks of some females. She wondered if she was underdressed or if there was something on her face. By the time Gabriel took her back to her office, she was more than happy to breathe freely.

She smiled politely at him. "Thank you, Gabriel."

"You're welcome. Your official email and temporary password should have been sent to you by now alongside instructions on how to get into the bank domain and navigate through information. I know this was already on your contract but I hope you understand information that goes in and out of the bank is classified and should stay that way unless otherwise stated."