PIA: Women must be positioned for oil crew change

Sopuruchi Onwuka

Deliberate policy and structural measures should evolved to dismantle cultural norms that nurture gender bias in the technical and male dominated professions and workplace environments in order to allow the sectors harness the capacity and expertise of women for leadership roles in the industry.

Chairman of AA Holdings, Mr Austin Avuru, who observed that Nigerian petroleum industry hosts very competent women who deserve leadership positions on merit, stated that time has come for the increasing number of women in the industry to position to lead crew change in the domestic oil and gas industry.

Mr Avuru who lent a strident voice to a panel discussion on the opportunities for women in the emerging Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) landscape noted that capacity and performance would be required for indigenous leaders to replace foreign players who are currently farming out their positions in the industry.

His observation aligned with those of stakeholders in the petroleum and related industries who polled opinions at full packed conference hosted by the Sectoral Working Group of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF) hosted at Eko Hotels and Suites on Tuesday. They agreed that gender bias has remained the biggest and longstanding barrier to the career growth of women in the petroleum industry.

The event which was facilitated by the Nigerian Content and Development Board (NCDMB) and organized and driven by the Women in Energy Network (WIEN) aimed to galvanize pan-sectoral advocacy for gender inclusiveness and address palpable imbalances against women.

Speakers at four panel sessions at the event chorused the need to dismantle gender bias in the industry workplace environment to enable stakeholders harness and optimize the collective capacity of the workforce in delivering performance.

Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr Simbi Wabote; Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Senator Marjorie Okadigbo; former Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), Mr Bayo Ojulari; Chief Executive Officer of WalterSmith Petroman Oil Limited, Mr Chikezie Nwosu; and many other industry captains acknowledged gender bias in the petroleum industry as barrier to optimization. They also called for collective actions in addressing the problem.

Engr Wabote state that the NCDMB collaborated with the SWG of the NCCF to hold a summit on gender bias because of its pervasive spread across the industry. He emphasized the need for the Nigerian petroleum industry to align with global movement towards realization of the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5 which, according to him seeks to achieve gender equality.

The conference delegates traced the cause gender bias in the industry to cultural practices that tend to assign women with auxiliary functions to support the men. They also noted that such cultural norms sap out the confidence of the girl child to step up to leadership and male dominated roles.

Eminent geologist and Chairman of AA Holdings, Mr Austin Avuru, declared at a panel session at the conference that cultural bias against the growth of women, and not lack of requisite qualification and capacity, has remained the biggest challenge against the growth of women into leadership positions in the petroleum and other sectors.

He pointed out that the bias against women should be tackled from early education, career guidance and mentorship stages. He made it clear that the girl children in the country are traditionally prepared to take auxiliary functions at homes and in the larger society, pointing at low number of female students taking in science and technology inclined courses of study at the universities and colleges.

The situation, according to him, had made it difficult for women to position for leadership opportunities in the highly rewarding and influential professions across sectors of the economy and the society.

He however pointed out that the situation has significantly changed with the rising number of women excelling in fields of study relevant to the operations and posting strong performance indices that qualify them for increased spaces in petroleum industry leadership.

He narrowed the factors militating against women’s growth in the industry to education, training and capital; emphasizing that the cultural issues depriving women equal access to good education and training remain the obscure habitats of gender bias.

In pointing out that gender equality is good for business, Mr Avuru noted that corporate employers would always choose women who qualify above men for leadership positions. He pointed at the rising number of women who have risen to industry leadership positions purely on their own merit.

In addressing the role of legislation in gender balancing in the petroleum industry, Mr Avuru said that competence and capacity for performance would rule corporate decisions in the choice of next generation of leaders as crew change looms in the petroleum industry.

The Oracle Today reports that the Petroleum Industry Act which is being activated requires acreage license holders to either optimize oilfield activity or relinquish the assets. This, coupled with the changing demand forecasts, has spurred a rash of divestment of assets by foreign multinational oil companies to mainly indigenous independent companies.

As the multinational firms yield industry space to indigenous companies through asset divestments, Mr Avuru said, Nigerian women have the opportunity to position for higher roles in leading operations of the industry. He made it clear that whereas energy transition plays a role in placing control of the domestic petroleum industry in the hands of indigenous independent companies, the PIA envisages the need for enhanced local capacity, expertise and best practices in driving the sector forward.

Gender bias and the urgent need for strategies to achieve gender equity in the petroleum industry workplace dominated discussions at the conference; with panelists calling for legislations, structures and regulatory programmes to make the playing field level for all professionals in the sector.