Minimum Benchmark for Women in Oil and Gas takes Root

By Eddy Ochigbo

•NCDMB set to Disburse $40m Women Fund

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has announced plans to set a minimum percentage of females that must be included in any human capacity development (HCD) programme or any other initiative that it will approve for the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.

The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, stated this on Tuesday, 14th June at the 2nd Nigerian Women in Oil and Gas Conference. He said the Board would work on the policy and communicate it to the industry as soon as possible.

The conference was organised by the NCDMB in collaboration with the Diversity Sectorial Working Group of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF), which was set up by the NCDMB to advise it on policy directions.

Speaking on the $40m Women in Energy Fund which the NCDMB set up in partnership with the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank), the Executive Secretary indicated that 15 applications have been received and three have been approved and disbursement of funds would soon start. He added that the online portal for the fund was launched two weeks ago, and this would speed up and reduce human interface in the application and processing.

He commended the performance of women in various roles in the oil and gas industry and canvassed for their inclusion in the administration of the various Trust Funds that were established by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, notably the Host Community Development Trust, Host Community Development Trust Fund and Environmental Remediation Fund.

Speaking further, the NCDMB boss confirmed that the Oil and Gas Industrial Parks in Bayelsa State and Cross River state are getting ready for completion and will commence operations next year. He noted that the Board had started inviting applicants for allocation of plots to set up manufacturing outfits in the park and encouraged women-owned businesses with workable proposals to apply as they will be given special consideration as part of the Board’s commitment to mainstream women into the oil and gas industry.

Providing an update on the administration of the Women in Energy Fund, the Managing Director of NEXIM Bank, Mr. Abba Bello explained that applicants would need to meet set criteria before they can access the fund. “It is a loan and not a grant and applicants have to meet the conditions, so we can achieve the intended purpose,” he said.

Represented by the Head, Specialised Products at the Bank, Mr. Mohammed Aumiz, the NEXIM Bank boss explained that it takes only 22 days for an application to be processed and an offer letter issued if the company met the criteria.

Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva commended the NCDMB for inaugurating the Diversity Sectorial Working Group under the NCCF as provided in Section 58 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. He noted that women make up 48 per cent of the global labour force, but they only account for 22 per cent of the labour force in the oil and gas sector.

Quoting a recent study by Global Energy Talent Index, the Minister said women occupy about 50 per cent of non-technical positions at entry-level compared to only 15 per cent of technical and field role positions, hinting that gender diversity and inclusion decreases with seniority, with only a tiny proportion of women in executive positions. “The percentage of women in the industry drops from 36 per cent to 24 per cent between the middle and executive level,” he noted.

He confirmed that the Nigerian government has been deliberate in introducing gender-friendly policies aimed at increasing access to funding, award of contracts and support for research and development in the interest of women operators in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

The Minister harped on the need to be deliberate in getting more girls into Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), which is a pathway to careers in the oil and gas industry.

He also advised women in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry to work together towards increasing participation of fellow women in the industry by engendering growth, building capacities and capabilities, identifying opportunities, mentoring and coaching.

In her goodwill message, the Chairperson NNPC Board, Senator Margery Chuba-Okadigbo challenged the NCDMB to institute a development programme like the Project 100 for oil and gas firms owned by women. She said the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provides a good opportunity to mainstream more women in oil and gas activities. She also recommended formal mentorship and role modelling for younger women coming up in the oil and gas industry.

…Future Concerns’ PPE Factory Underway

In another development, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote has laid the foundation stone of a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) factory – an initiative of Future Concerns Group in Lekki, Lagos. The factory which is expected to be opened in December 2022, would manufacture products under the trademark of Red Wings, one of the world’s leading producers of top-range PPEs.

While commending the management of Future Concerns Group for their decision to domicile the PPE manufacturing facility in Lagos, Wabote hinted that the factory would start manufacturing overalls by December 2022, as scheduled and grow systematically to produce other Red Wings PPE products in the country.

He regretted that operators of the Nigerian oil and gas industry prefer to import several equipment components and items that could easily be manufactured in the country, expressing hope that the trend would be corrected with the efforts of committed investors like the founder of Future Concerns Group.

He highlighted the remarkable difference between PPEs used in the oil and gas industry and the ones used in other sectors, hinting that PPEs meant for the oil industry must be fire-resistant as well as meet other specific ISO standards.

While emphasizing that manufacturing facilities provide opportunities to create jobs for Nigerians, he charged other representatives of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to emulate Future Concerns Group by developing clear plans to domicile the manufacturing of the items they currently import.

He emphasized that Future Concerns’ personal protective equipment factory will go beyond the oil and gas industry and serve other sectors that require PPE, like the construction and power industries.

Group Managing Director of Future Concerns Group, Engr. Tony Oguike credited the Executive Secretary and the NCDMB for motivating Nigerian service companies to invest in strategic facilities in the oil and gas industry and ensuring that they get patronized by operators in the industry.

According to him, the factory is going to be internationally certified and hopefully, NCDMB will be proud of it and future chief executives and manufacturers will look to it and improve their investments and strategies.

The Future Concerns Group has diversified operations and operates Future Oilfield Services Limited, Future Concerns Safety Centre, MSA Service Centre, and Future Automations, which offer calibration technical services.

Some of the services offered by the group include Fixed Gas Portable Gas, Fall Protection, Engineered System, Emergency Response, Lock Out and Tag Out, Safety Signages, Risk Assessment for sites, Environmental Management, and Pollution Management and Control.