A group, Women in Mining in Nigeria (WIMIN) has urged the Kogi State Government to direct its attention to gender-based issues in the mining sector in the state because of its strategic place in the minerals and mining map of Nigeria.
The President and Founder of Women In Mining in Nigeria, Engr. Janet Adeyemi disclosed this during their opening remark at the Research Validation and Policy Dialogue in Kogi State.
She stated that this Research Validation and Policy Dialogue is part of WIMIN’s programme to safeguard the Rights of Women and Children in the Mining Sector in Nigeria supported by the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and in partnership with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
“We mapped out three states for this crucial programme and Kogi State on its merit, made it to the list. Women in Mining will continue to promote the inclusion of all, even in the emerging transformational developments such as energy transformation, Digitization, Artificial Intelligence etc.
She assured participants that the fight for gender equality in the mining sector is no more the women’s fight.
Her words, “The globe has taken over the battle and many countries have ensured that their policies reflect gender as nobody wants to be reckoned with a society that has no respect or concern at the least, for its women and children. I believe that in this global journey to progress, no one wants to be tied down or dragged behind by culture or sentiment, and that is the attitude I expect of the Policy Dialogue we shall hold in this programme.
She noted that the role of women in the mining sector in Kogi State can not be downplayed or waived off adding that their hard labour in the mines yields an immeasurable volume of minerals used to service multi-national industries domiciled in Kogi State.
“But why are these women unable to grow in the sector, what barriers are preventing their promotions and upscale? Are these barriers to competence or barriers of gender? Who accounts for the death of female miners in Kogi State who die on trucks now and then? What safeguards have Kogi the state mining sector developed to ensure the safety of our women in mining sites?
“What policies and implementation plans will be most effective to curb the menace of child labour in the Kogi State mining sector? These are heart-to-heart discussions we intend to have in the course of our policy dialogue with stakeholders tomorrow. The policy dialogue is a sequel to the Research Validation to be held today.
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