Women have prospects in oil and gas industry in Africa – Geologist

The emerging oil and gas industry both in Ghana and in Uganda have a lot of prospects and potentials for all women in the two countries, Ms Lyoidah Kiconco, a Ugandan Geologist, said on Tuesday.

“All the women need to do is to get the required training that will enable them to fit in the various areas available in the sector”, Ms Kinconco explained.

Addressing a group of journalists selected from Ghana and Uganda to participate in a -10 day training programme on Oil and gas reporting in Kampala, Uganda, Ms Kinconco asked governments in both countries as well as oil companies to assist women to train in the oil sector so that they could also contribute their quota to the industry.

The Revenue Watch Institute in collaboration with Penplusbyte, a Ghanaian-based International ICT Institute and the Thomson Reuters Foundation, UK, are organising the training at the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), in Kampala.

The training would afford the journalists the needed skills to improve on the reportage on the oil, gas and mining and the wider extractive sector.

Ms Kiconco indicated that women could equally function well as their male counterparts so they needed to be trained to become geologists, managers and administrative staffs and not only serve as auxiliary staffs.

She said in Uganda, women were being given the same opportunities as men to prove themselves in the sector provided they had the qualifications, saying “technically, there is no discrimination here. I have been a geologist for nine years and have been involved in production, drilling and exploration of oil in Uganda”.

She stressed on the need for Ghana and Uganda to manage the oil and gas resources sustainably, warning that there was no need to exploit the industry in the interest of profit making.

Ms Kiconco asked the journalists to research and report holistically on the sector to the benefit of all those who matter in the industry.

“You can look at issues regarding activities of the oil companies, status of licensing, challenges such as disputes, communities’ interest and the needs of the sector, among others”.

Source: GNA