NDDC spends N113m to search for 5 topmost female cadet scientists

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is spending over N113m to search for five topmost female cadet scientists in the oil region as part of gender parity drives in 2016.

The acting managing director of the Commission, Ibim Seminatari, disclosed that the budget covered the competition, quartering of contestants at each stage, prizes, and above all, mentoring that would follow even after the winners would have emerged in a contest called GEMS.

“As you may already be aware, GEMS stands for Girls in Engineering, Mathematics & Science, a programme borne out of our desire, as well as our social commitment and responsibility, to bridge the gaps that exist in gender related issues we encounter in our earnest effort to facilitate the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region. Of great importance is the science and technology areas, which are very vital in ensuring that our people begin to play a more definitive role in the oil and gas sector, which predominate activities in the Niger Delta”.

She said the overall best female student would attract a modern chemistry laboratory in her school while the second and third would attract a physics and biology laboratory respectively.

According to the CEO, the 33 finalists were selected from a rigorous elimination process that began with 2880 girls from the nine NDDC mandate states.

“From this first screening test 1,110 girls were selected. From this, 270 were selected at 30 girls per state. They progressed to the state finals, where 10 girls qualified from each state, leading to the regional finals, where 10 girls were selected from each of the three regions. Of the 30 who will participate in the grand finale, 10 would be selected for recognition, while the top five will receive awards, prizes and scholarships”.

Semenitari said the NDDC was involved in offering postgraduate scholarship to Niger Delta students in science and technology, to equip them with knowledge and skills that would ensure they actively participate in the oil and gas sector, not just in the region, but nationally and globally.

The Commission said it was doing this because new surveys available to it from around the world indicated that only 14 per cent of girls go into science fields, where there was an equally disturbing inequity, on the increase every year, in the gender distribution of the student population.

In Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta region, where the numbers were even more dire, boys made up a more significant percentage of enrolments