Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Chairman, Mrs. Margery Okadigbo yesterday clamoured for the bridging the gender gap in the energy industry.
The energy sector is one of the most gender imbalanced sectors, according to her.
She insisted: “We are, therefore, confronted more than ever with the urgent need to urge gender equity in the energy sector in view of the statistics before us.”
She spoke at the maiden Women in Energy, Oil and Gas (WEOG) conference of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association(PENGASSAN) Women Commission, Kaduna Zone in the PTDF Headquarters in Abuja.
She said the need for gender equality had not been as expedient as now.
According to her, women account for only 30 per cent for the labour force in the oil and gas industry and 32 per cent in renewables.
Mrs Okadigbo, who expressed concern over the gender imbalance in the energy sector, stressed that women hold less than five per cent of top positions in the energy sector and fewer than 14 per cent in the top management positions in the energy-related businesses.
She said women investments in energy technology, climate change investment technology in the energy sector are far less than men.
She noted that globally women in the energy sector face barriers in areas of employment, leadership and innovation.
Meanwhile, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) promised support members of the Women in Energy, Oil and Gas (WEOG) support to attend conferences in and outside the country as they wish.
The Fund’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Aliyu Gusau, who made the pledge, said having discovered that the women in energy have high propensity to organize workshops, which is part of the Fund’s mandate, the PTDF will support all their activities.
He said: “We promise to always support your activities. I can see that organising workshops is one of the mandates of your team. I can tell you that it is part of what we do here.
“I would like to encourage you. At the PTDF we would like to collaborate with you not only to organize workshops but for your members to attend conferences within and outside as you deem fit at all times.”
He noted that the Fund is mandated to award overseas scholarships, stressing there are so many areas it could partner with the women.
Speaking with reporters at the conference, WEOG National President, Oladunni Owo, said women participation in the energy industry was below 30per cent.
She added that at leadership their participation at leadership level is seven per cent which informed the making of the association five years ago to mainstream women in the industry both as employees, business owners and entrepreneurs in the entire value chain.
She said the association had identified the need to have the voice of women in the Nigerian local content body.
