The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman has joined ongoing clamour for women to play more role in the maritime sector.
In a goodwill message at the 2019 Day of The Seafarer held on Tuesday in Lagos, Bala Usman said: “I want to join all my colleagues in the maritime sector in Nigeria to welcome you to the celebration of this year’s edition of the Day of the
Seafarer.
The NPA Boss said: “I am particularly happy that this year’s event is focused on the importance of increasing the participation of women in the maritime sector.
Earlier this year, I had joined a few other women active in the sector to discuss the same issue at the World Maritime University, WMU Malmo, Sweden.
The event at the WMU also had the stamp of the International
Maritime Organisation and it is gratifying that the IMO is again joining the Nigeria Maritime Administration & Safety Agency, NIMASA in drawing our attention to the importance of having gender balance in the maritime industry.
Although gender imbalance is global problem in the labour market, the worst example of this phenomenon exists in the maritime community where records from the IMO indicate that a disheartening 2% of the workforce are women.
And most of the women captured in the data take roles in
Administration, Marketing, Communications, Law. Women are a rare occurrence in the actual practices of seafaring, fishing, sea food
The truth is that the world cuts itself short by excluding nearly 50 % of its population from having a good shot at making the world a better place.
So, irrespective of how many development goals are set, this
uneven gender distribution cum participation would most certainly detract from properly grounding the blue economy
It is significant that this is not just an African problem as one would imagine resulting from the fact that the continent is set and unable to immediately overcome certain traditional and religious practices which ordinarily exclude women from certain career opportunities.
In a lot of traditional societies on the continent, educating the girl-child is still so contentious that imagining having women on the high sea or operating heavy duty equipment at port locations would be worse than nightmares!
But we must go past all these primordial sentiments and give our citizens, irrespective of gender the best opportunities that life offers them. And this is why events like the one for which we are gathered today are important. We must continue to engage one another and discuss ways to prepare our girls for the opportunities that exist in this sector and ensure that women who already have careers in the sector make the best use of same.
• Some of the steps that I think we must consider as citizens of this country include:
• Encouraging young girls to take interest in Science Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects so they can pursue careers in shipping, marine, operations and engineering sub-sectors
• Providing incentives for girls to take courses in these areas
• Women who have broken through the barriers in this sector must institute a mentoring system that encourages young ladies to take careers and create a pipeline of succession in the maritime sector.
• Government agencies and private sector investors must also be deliberate about increasing the tally of women in the sector. Last year for instance, TCIT, one of our Terminal Operators recruited the first set of female crane operators in Nigeria. We have assured all stakeholders of our readiness to partner with them on this front.
• Working conditions that ensure the retention of women at work
even after they would have started child bearing should be
introduced. Very essential to this is the question of maternity
entitlements. Women should have at least between 18 and 24
weeks before having to go back to work after childbirth and the
opportunity to leave work early for a few months after. The NPA has now increased maternity leave for women to 16 weeks as against the 12 weeks obtainable in the national civil service. Nursing mothers are also allowed to report for duty one (1) hour after the official resumption time and close one (1) hour earlier than the
• official closing time every day. The NPA has also insisted that the female workforce would be entitled to a maternity leave irrespective of their marital status. We have also recently ccommissioned a crèche facility where nursing mothers can keep their babies at work and go to breast feed during break and return to work.
• Networks or associations in the industry should continue to provide
platforms for women to share experiences, encourage each other
and battle their challenges with one voice.
We must constantly remind itself that women matter and that when we build women, we build our humanity.
Permit me to share these inspirational words of from the late Nelson Mandela with you on a final note:
“It is important that government structures understand that true
freedom and prosperity cannot be achieved unless…we see in visible and practical terms that the condition of women in our country has radically changed for the better, and that they have been empowered in all spheres of life as equal.”
Thank you for listening and God bless.
