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With the increase in the number of women among new graduates each year and with the low employment rates, the Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko, has charged companies in the petroleum sector to endeavor to employ more females in key positions.

According to him, the Petroleum Sector had over the years been recognized as a preserve for men, a concern he described as very worrying and not encouraging to boosting support for women.

“Our agenda is clear; that we need to take action and work together in order to make sure that people and their skills are at the heart of exclusive growth. With the right skills people are better prepared for active citizenship. They are better equipped to set up their own business and in turn, to create jobs for others”, he said.

Addressing the media and other key participants at a workshop aimed at enhancing participation in the upstream petroleum industry, the Minister stressed the need to blend right skills in the workforce, in order to make businesses more competitive and organizations more effective.

“It is in this regard that in November 7, 2017, the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Program (AOGCP), was launched to focus specifically on investing in the education of the Ghanaian youth as a national development priority to provide relevant services and expertise to the upstream Petroleum Industry and other allied industries’’, he added.

In a speech read on his behalf by his deputy, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Mr. Agyarko explained that the number of Ghanaians who have been placed in the upstream petroleum industry have been made possible due to the effective collaboration between the Petroleum Commission and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in the implementation of the work permit facilitation programme.

According to him, the government was as well focusing its attention on building the capacity of indigenous Ghanaians in entirety so as to enable them take up job opportunities in the sector.

“With the promulgation of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Law 2016(Act 919) that emphasizes the employment and training of Ghanaians citizens and the effective utilization of Ghanaians goods and services, Government will not rest on its oars until the capacity of Ghanaians in the entire value chain is fully enhanced for the benefit of the people,” Mr Boakye Agyarko stated.