Stakeholders Seek Women Inclusion, Diversity in Oil, Gas Industry

Emmanuel Addeh 

Several industry stakeholders yesterday called for an increase in diversity and inclusion in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria to create a balance in human development in the sector.

Speaking during the Annual General Meeting/Lecture Series of the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) in Abuja, top players in the industry noted that inclusion and fairness in distribution of positions in the industry will lead to even  growth in the industry.

With the theme: “Diversity & Inclusiveness in Human Capital Development”, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, who spoke during the event, stressed that women rights are also human rights.

Industry data  recently revealed an uneven gender distribution as women make up just 18 per cent of the workforce, while men constitute 82 per cent of employees in the oil and gas sector.

A report recently released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) disclosed that of  the 60 entities in the oil and gas industry that provided employment data for the 2020 audit, 18,712 employees were captured out of which 15,266 were male, while just 3,446 were female.

According to NEITI, of the 18,712 total employees in the industry, 1,495, about  8 per cent was on the top-level employment cadre in the industry; 9,475, made up 51 per cent middle level, while 7,742, approximately 41 per cent, was lower-level employees.

The report showed that out of 40 executive management positions in the petroleum industry, only 10 were occupied by women, signifying 25 per cent of total appointments.

The lower level employment record showed that out of 7,742 employees, 6,395 were men while the remaining 1,347 were women.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) said more than half of the professionals in the oil and gas industry will reach retirement age in the next decade, a situation which it said posed a major threat to the industry.

Wabote argued that women make up 49.3 per cent of Nigeria’s population, saying this underscored the need for women to take a centre stage in major areas of professional activities in the country.

Stressing that the role of women needed to be recognised, he however noted that  significant measures had been taken to implement policies where they can have same opportunities as their male counterparts. “Women’s rights are human rights,” he said.

He noted that with the modest efforts being made in Nigeria, data has shown that it is the second country in the world where a female could possibly emerge boss, saying that human capacity development remains of critical value to the energy sector. 

He urged companies in Nigeria to imitate the NCDMB which has engendered gender fairness and diversity in its activities making available $40 million specially for women entrepreneurs in collaboration with the Nigerian Import-Export Bank (NEXIM).

He pledged that the NCDMB will continue to promote human capacity development across all spheres of the energy sector including intervention in tertiary institutions to encourage Nigeria’s teeming youths.

In his remarks, Principal, Petroleum Training Institute (PTI),  Dr Henry Adimula, stated that gender and inclusiveness were critical to the social-economic development of any nation.

Stressing that gender disparity remains a major issue in the industry, he explained that the chances of women had been worsened by early marriage, poverty , unwanted pregnancy which he said erode the prospects of girls as compared with their male counterparts.

He underscored the need to develop human capital in the country, noting that the United Nations effort at achieving gender parity has been very challenging in the oil and gas sector.

According to him, since 2010, the general gap in the labour market in sub-Saharan Africa has amounted to $95 billion yearly in lost income, stressing that empowering women is smart politics.

President of OGTAN, Sam Onyeche, in his intervention stated that  gender equality and inclusiveness could form part of business decisions in the industry’s projection, positing that OGTAN as a skills development organisation would continue to aid inclusiveness by its programmes and training methodologies, as a way of repositioning for better business performance.

The OGTAN president stated that in a fast changing energy world, the approach to policies should be reformed , while new technologies must be explored.

Technical Adviser to the Minister of State, Petroleum, Mr Justice Derefaka, in a keynote address, spoke of the need for empathy as well as giving people opportunities in the sector.

According to him, empathy and justice where everybody has a fair chance is needed in the industry, stressing that diversity is critical to business growth.

He contended that people should not be defined by their gender or races, so as to sustain business resilience, stressing that there was need to upskill in digital technology since the future of oil and gas is innovation and technological know-how.