The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman has charged women professionals in the maritime sector to invest more in themselves in order to be indispensable in their fields of endeavour.
Usman gave this charge in a keynote address at the opening of the annual conference of Network for Professional Women in the Maritime and Port sector of West and Central Africa in Lagos on Tuesday.
She said maritime and port activities in the sub-region were beset with myriad of challenges ranging from decay in infrastructure to low capacity utilization, corruption, insecurity and other inefficiencies and enjoined women in the sector to initiate actions that will turn these situation around for the better.
“Women sure need to have more opportunities in the sector given that only 2% of the world’s maritime workforce is made up of women, according to 2015 research by the International Transport Workers Federation,” she said.
Usman called on delegates to fashion out ways in which women can collectively contribute to effect much-needed change in the maritime sub-sector and the nation in general.
In their goodwill messages, the General Coordinator of Professional Women in Ports and Maritime Sector, Adanlete Lawson and PMAWCA Secretary General, Michael Lueguje commended NPA for the support it had given to PMAWCA over the years.
The Network of Professional Women in Ports and Maritime sector is an affiliate of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA).
The four day conference will feature discussions on successes and challenges of port concessioning, change leadership and management.
Over 200 hundred delegates from West and Central African countries are participating in the conference.