NGX, IFC applaud Lafarge Africa for promoting gender equality

Lafarge Africa’s Country Chief Executive Officer, Mr Khaled El Dokani, disclosed in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.

El Dokani that the applause came from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd.

The recognition of Lafarge Africa comes on the heels of the recent IFC Gender Equality study, conducted in partnership with the NGX to assess gender gaps of 30 leading companies listed on NGX.

Lafarge Africa was named among the five top-performing companies at the virtual launch of the Nigeria2Equal (N2E) Peer Learning Platform and Gender Gap Assessment Report on Aug. 6.

Dokani, represented by Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development Director, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, spoke on the Business Case for Achieving Gender Parity in Nigeria.

“We are extremely delighted for this recognition. At Lafarge, we are further driven by narrowing the gap which is a particular nuance in the manufacturing sector.

“To underscore this, we have set ambitious diversity and inclusion targets.

“We have also put frameworks in place for the achievement of these targets such as female to male employment ratio, especially in core production and operations.

“We have also adopted a bottom-up approach to further bridge this gap through some of our social impact programmes like the technical skills development programme and the female truck drivers’ programmme of the Lafarge Driving Institute.

“Of course, being a signatory to the Nigeria2Equal programme affords us greater opportunities to achieve set targets,” Dokani said.

The Organisation and Human Resources Director of Lafarge Africa, Mr Gbemiga Owolabi said: “At Lafarge Africa, we believe that our success is directly linked to how diverse and inclusive we are.

“We continue to improve on our various employee initiatives toward ensuring that every employee has the same opportunity, irrespective of gender, to excel,” he said.

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NGX Group, Mr Oscar Onyema, was quoted by the statement as saying, said that Nigeria2Equal was a unique design to ensuring quantitative approach to improving gender qualities.

“As the first multi-stakeholder country project focused on reducing gender gaps in Nigeria’s private sector companies, Nigeria2Equal is unique in its design to ensure a quantitative approach to improving gender equality amongst the participating companies through careful research.

“In addition, the programme’s approach to celebrating industry best practices and promoting the application of gender-smart solutions at the firm and sector level is best in class and will be celebrated for years to come,” Onyema said.

The Gender Gaps Assessment Report is an independent review of the 30 most capitalised companies listed on the NGX’s Premium and Main Boards, using the proprietary Equileap Scorecard.

The report investigates the extent of gender gaps in Nigeria’s private sector, establishes best practices, or challenges, for closing gender gaps.

It also provides a basis for participating companies to identify top priority areas to address through the implementation of the Nigeria2Equal programme.

It sets the context for the Nigeria2Equal Peer-Learning Platform by providing market-specific data on the evidence for the business case while highlighting priority issues that promote or hinder women’s participation as leaders, employees, and entrepreneurs.