NCDMB, UN Women Move to Unlock $40 Million Fund for Women in Oil and Gas

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and UN Women have opened talks on measures to unlock the $40 million Women in Oil and Gas Fund, which has remained largely underutilised despite its potential to transform women-owned businesses in the sector.

The discussions took place on Thursday when the UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Beatrice Eyong, led a delegation to the NCDMB liaison office in Abuja, where she was received by the Board’s General Manager of Corporate Communications, Obinna Ezeobi, on behalf of Executive Secretary Felix Omatsola Ogbe.

The fund comprises an initial $20 million facility established by NCDMB in April 2021 and an additional $20 million provided by the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, offering loans at a highly competitive five per cent interest rate.

Eyong proposed a study to identify the barriers limiting women’s access to the financing scheme, citing potential obstacles related to documentation, business registration, tax compliance and limited awareness of the facility.

She commended NCDMB for its existing gender inclusion initiatives and highlighted UN Women’s programmes on women’s economic empowerment, leadership development and the elimination of gender-based violence.

Ezeobi welcomed the proposals and reaffirmed the Board’s readiness to partner with UN Women, noting that NCDMB had already introduced several measures including a dedicated financing arrangement with NEXIM Bank and the creation of a Diversity Sectoral Working Group under the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum.

He acknowledged that women remain underrepresented in the oil and gas industry, citing limited access to technical education, finance and commercial opportunities, as well as entrenched perceptions of the sector as predominantly male.

The meeting also explored capacity-building initiatives for NCDMB personnel to mainstream gender perspectives into project planning, budgeting and execution, as well as vendor development schemes and potential affirmative procurement measures to expand the participation of women-owned companies across the value chain.

The talks followed concerns raised earlier this year by the Women in Energy Network, which warned that the fund was underutilised not for lack of capable women-owned businesses but due to limited access to bankable contract opportunities, describing the situation as a structural constraint in which firms face a cycle of “no asset, no contract, no financing, no asset”.

Ezeobi said NCDMB had invested significantly in capacity-building programmes for women entrepreneurs covering business sustainability, corporate governance and strategic management, and was also encouraging young girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.