-As stakeholders advocate more women inclusion in the solid minerals sector
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s current drive to transition from oil and gas-driven economy to one driven more by solid minerals have decried the sector’s 0.63% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution, saying it is abysmal.
Orji Ogbonnaiya Orji, the executive secretary/CEO of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) stated this in his opening remarks at the 2024 Multi Stakeholders Roundtable on Enhancing Inclusiveness and Addressing Inequalities in Nigeria’s Mining Sector which began in Abuja Thursday.
The roundtable is a collaboration between Global Rights, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) with support from the Ford Foundation.
According to Orji ” the NEITI report also showed some improvement in the solid minerals sector’s contribution to GDP – from 0.26% in 2019 to 0.63% in 2021. The figure is still very abysmal considering the potential of the solid minerals sector to act as a catalyst for economic growth and development of our country.
While urging participants to focus on actionable steps to enhance inclusiveness: Build capacities, strengthen institutional frameworks, deepen community engagement, boost public awareness, and education, and beneficiate and add value to our mineral resources, by leveraging technology in implementing progressive policy reforms.
The NEITI boss informed that the latest independent industry audit report conducted by NEITI in the oil, gas and mining sector disclosed that employment opportunities for women in the industry in Nigeria are currently too low to the global average.
“From the Report, 56 out of 70 companies covered had a total of 19,171 employees. 15,639 (82%) were men while 3,532 (18%) of the employees were women. Similarly, out of 2,325 top or high-level positions, women representation was less than 100”
“In efforts to address gender equity and inclusion, NEITI working with our global development partners, 57 member countries in our organization, the media and civil society are committed to advancing fiscal justice and gender equity debate in extractive industries with a specific focus on enhancing women’s participation in natural resource governance. To this end, NEITI has set up a Women/Gender Desk to coordinate our activities designed to put women and children issues in public consciousness.”
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