Oil industry leaders restate pledge to gender diversity

Sopuruchi Onwuka

Petroleum industry captains in Nigeria have reiterated their resolve to create equal opportunity work environment for both male and female professionals and business owners.

The agreement among all panel discussants at the 2023 Annual International Strategic Conference of the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria formed part of the key conclusions of the conference which pooled policy makers, regulators, investors, professional leaders, the academia and services providers in the petroleum and electricity sectors of the economy.

All five discussants in the opening panel session agreed on the need to provide enhanced space and opportunity for women in the industry as part of the ongoing movement to advance inclusiveness and diversity in government and corporate boards in the industry.

Although two women and three men featured in the panel debate which focused on arresting perceived investment decline in the country’s full energy loop, there was solid agreement on the need for deliberate gender balancing in the boards and management of institutions in the industry.

Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited (HEOSL), Ado Oseragbaje, declared that the company is already taking deliberate steps to guarantee gender balance in the company’s workforce and defuse the discomforting perception of male domination.

The Oracle Today reports that HEOSL is the operator of OML 30 Joint Venture between the NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL) and Shoreline Natural Resources Limited (SNRL). The asset holds significant potentials to enhance the nation’s daily oil and gas output.

He told the teeming audience of industry professionals and media representatives that women presently constitute over 40 percent of his company’s top leadership team, describing the measure as deliberate.

Mr Oseragbaje who was represented by the General Manager in charge of Government, Joint Venture and External Relations at the company, Sola Adebawo, declared that the company has adopted a deliberate policy of non discrimination and equal opportunity to create inclusive environment for competent and committed individuals.

“We are a non-discriminatory company that provides career opportunities and an inclusive environment for competent and committed individuals of both sexes to be and give their best,”Mr Adebawo said.

In declaring the commitment of two institutions he represents, the President of the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA), Mr Akachi Nwokedi, made it clear that inclusiveness and diversity form part of the key values of the association and the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited where he is the Company Secretary.

Without dropping numbers, Mr Nwokedi assured the audience that the NGA and NLNG appreciate the human energy and contributions to advancement irrespective of the gender that hosts the values. He pointed at significant number of female professionals occupying various leadership positions as investors and professionals in the gas industry as visible indications of values and potentials stacked in women.

At the NLNG, he said, there is equal opportunity for both male and female professionals to drive their careers and growth without any gender barrier.

Chairman of AA Holdings, Mr Austin Avuru, declared at the event that all the companies affiliated to him, including Platform Petroleum and Seplat Energy Plc, place competence and capacity ahead of gender as critical criteria for qualification.

Mr Avuru is the founder and premier Managing Director of Platform Petroleum. He retired as cofounder and first Managing Director of Seplat Energy Plc. He retains solid equity interests and board positions in both companies.

Currently a business incubator that provides management, professional and funding partnership to start-ups against fledgling huddles, Mr Avuru is at the center of a vast network of investments and board decisions in the industry.

In all the companies where he sits on the board, he explained, gender has no space in determining the qualification of personnel for positions. He said the prime considerations would remain the competence and capacity to deliver on roles.

Mr Avuru ruled out affirmative action as part of any credible gender balancing process, but recommended non-discriminatory inclusivity that is based on qualification, competence and capacity.

Conference Chairwoman and Managing Director of Falcon Corporation Limited, Mrs Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, also declared the commitment of her company and affiliates to gender inclusiveness and diversity, stressing that every individual comes with unique value.

Mrs Joe-Ezigbo is past President of the NGA. She is prominent member of the Women in Energy Network. She currently sits in the International Gas Union (IGU). She said that empowering women in all her affiliations has become an undying commitment.

Whereas Falcon Corporation provides opportunities for both men and women, Mrs Joe-Ezigbo told the audience that she has ensured that all female professionals in the company are subscribed to empowerment networks and sundry platforms that build their capacity for excellence.

Also, the Professorial Chair in Oil and Gas Economics and Management at the Institute for Oil and Gas Studies, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Prof Omowumi O. Iledare, strongly recommended urgent gender balancing in the petroleum industry to leverage full industry competence.

Describing himself as “he-for-she,” Professor Iledare reiterated his convictions that the petroleum industry in Nigeria and the world would deliver more efficiency if gender inclusivity and diversity form part of the regulations.

The discussions were piloted by the Deputy General Manager in charge of Corporate Business and Relations at First Hydrocarbon & Petroleum Development Company, Mrs Anita Edo-Osagie. She stood in for the Managing Director of Zigma Limited, Mrs Funm Ogbue, who was unavoidably absent to lead the panel discussion.

Mrs Funmi Ogbue, who is also the Managing Director of Jake Riley Limited, is the current President of the Women in Energy Network (WIEN), the strongest advocacy group driving female capacity development and inclusivity in the petroleum industry.