By Adewale Sanyaolu and Chinwendu Obienyi
The Federal Government has revealed that the establishment of an energy bank will boost energy investments in the oil and gas sector and also fund projects conceptualised by women in the industry.
Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, stated this during the Nigerian Women in Oil and Gas Conference 2022 held in Lagos on Tuesday.
The Government through the Nigerian Content Development Monetary Board (NCDMB), urged Nigerian women in the oil and gas sector to take advantage of their advocacy skills and collaboration to ensure Nigerian Content is deepened.
Sylva while commending the NCDMB and the Diversity Sectoral Working Group (SWG), said the oil and gas industry plays a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of the world and will continue to play this key role in spite of the growing call for.
He noted that the FG through its NCDMB – Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) partnership, rolled out a $40 million fund to empower women in the oil industry, Sylva said this is separated from the Nigerian Content Initiative (NCI) Fund which is equally available to women (and men) who meet the criteria. He said, “To take advantage of the changing landscape, women in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry must work together towards increasing women participation in the industry. We also want women in the industry to come up with projects that can be funded by in the industry because these funds exist. We are talking about establishing the Africa energy bank to support energy investments in Africa.