Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) says it has made available $40 million for women particularly in the oil and gas sector, and can now be accessed by female entrepreneurs.
This is even as key stakeholders in the industry decried the low participation of women in the industry , and called for more inclusion and diversity.
Speaking during the annual general meeting/lecture series of the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) in Abuja, energy players stressed that inclusion and diversity will deepen participation in the energy industry and drive more growth.
Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, speaking at the lecture series which held revently in Abuja with the theme Diversity & Inclusiveness in Human Capital Development”, said the board partnered with Nigerian Import-Export Bank (NEXIM) to make the find available.
He argued that women make up 49.3 per cent of Nigeria’s population, explaining that it underscores the need for women to take up roles in all areas of professional activities especially in the energy sector, “but we continue to leave behind half of this productive resources,” he said.
The executive secretary noted that significant measures have been taken to address the gender gap, but the number of women taking up roles in the sector remains low, as recent statistics show that men occupy more than 80% of roles in the industry.
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He stated that efforts must be intensified to break the bias and create a platform that will allow access to opportunities like their male counterpart while stressing that women’s rights are human rights too. He also noted that women have proven themselves ri owefirm well, when given the opportunity.
Wabote further informed that the board have initiated and executed several interventions to promote diversity, inclusion and boost human capital development.
The NCDMB Boss assured that the board will continue to do more to ensure inclusiveness and urged OGTAN to do same.
“I assure you all that NCDMB will continue to promote human capacity development in the energy sector, and we will continue to support skills development including entrepreneurship programme across secondary and tertiary institutions to prepare our youths for the future.
“I will like to cede that it is important for OGTAN to continue to promote diversity and inclusiveness amongst its genders as this will go a long way to further position the female folk in the mainstream of the energy sector ,” he urged.
Sam Onyeche, President of OGTAN, assured that the association will continue to aid inclusivity through its programmes and training methodologies to reposition the industry for better performance.
He explained that the essence of the lecture is to depeen gender equality and explore the potentials of an inclusive industry as well as the likely challenges. He expressed optimism that the event will guide female folk on what roles to pursue even including male dominated ones.
Also speaking, Principal, Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Henry Adimula, said the gender gap is further aggravated by prevailing poverty, early marriage and other practices that limit women.
He commended the NCDMB for ensuring that women have greater access to higher education at both undergraduate and postgraduate graduate levels.
The Technical Adviser, Gas Business and Policy Implementation to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Justice Derefaka in his intervention stressed the need for training and retraining of oil and gas professionals in the country.
He argued that available statistics show that companies that value D&I in their operations outperformed their competitors.
Derefaka charged OGTAN to ensure that its raining models to reflect the demand for lifelong learning to cope with the technological and social changes brought by the fourth industrial revolution.
