A group, Women in Mining in Nigeria (WIMIN), has advocated for more of its gender into the country’s mining space, this can be achieved by introducing girls to the sector.
Engineer Janet Adeyemi, President of WIMIN said this on Monday, November 14 while inaugurating the Girls for Mining (G4M) programme at sub-national level in Jalingo, Taraba State.
According to Engr Adeyemi, there is need to ‘pump’ female miners into the sector to secure the future of women in the sector because mining in not distant time will over the oil and gas sector as a wealth creating venture in the country.
She said: “70-80 per cent of everything we use in our daily lives are products of mining. We are witnessing the gradual passing away of the oil and gas sector in the globe and, when it finally fades out, Nigeria will be left with only two means of wealth creation – mining and agriculture.
“Mining will soon become more wealthy and prosperous than the oil and gas sector ever was in Nigeria. The number of women in the sector will keep dropping if we do nothing to pump female miners into the sector now, the women on ground today will be gone someday. I saw the gap in the mining sector and I wanted to fill up. That gap is called the gender gap.”
According to Adeyemi, the only way to populate the mining sector with productive women is to ‘begin to guide our girls from their school age into a prosperous future in the mining sector’.
Adeyemi hinted that Taraba was the first state to inaugurate the club, and that the club will be created in other states.
She listed the benefits of the club to include regular participation in inter-school quizes and debates, annual excursion to mining sites, tourists sites, natural resources regulatory agencies or other places of interests in line with overall intent of the G4M, the chance to travel abroad for an exchange visit to tour mine sites, meet fellow students abroad and meet with high profile female miners for mentorship and opportunities, among others.
Participants, drawn from various schools, were lectured on geology and mining.
One of them, Jovita Joseph, when asked what she learnt from the programme said: “There is a gap in mining which is a gender thing. WIMIN is trying to enroll women in mining in order to cover that gap”.
Another participant, Sakinat Suleiman, said: “I feel so excited and happy to be here. I have learnt so many things. I actually want to be a miner.”
The Nation
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