From Uche Usim, Abuja
Mrs Funmi Ogbue, the Chief Executive Officer of Zigma Limited, a petroleum and petrochemical company, has bagged the Women in Energy award, at the just concluded 5th Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) held in Abuja.
Ogbue, who doubles as the National President of Women In Energy Network (WIEN), clinched the award alongside Elohor Aiboni, Managing Director, SNEPCO Limited.
The award recognises Ogbue’s immense contributions to the development of the country’s petroleum sector, especially her strategic efforts at deepening women’s participation in an industry that has been dominated by men for decades.
Describing the award as a catalyst for greater works, Ogbue told Daily Sun that plans were afoot to leverage existing g partnerships among petroleum industry stakeholders to take the industry to the next level.
She said: “It’s quite humbling and encouraging to be so recognised at a big summit like NIES 2022.
“But more importantly, I see this as a call to greater works, a call to deepen partnerships across various divides, a call to widen women’s inclusivity in the sector because let’s face it, women have a lot to bring to the table. We have women who have achieved great feats in this sector and we need to encourage more women participation at various levels. At WIEN, we have set a women inclusivity target of 35% by 2025.
“I always encourage women to use the tools at our disposal such as the $40m Women in Oil and Gas Intervention Fund deployed by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and Nexim Nigeria Export-Import Bank.
“There will always be the need to discuss the role of women to achieve industry growth.
Women are not new to the industry; we play all sort of roles from the governance aspect to the entrepreneurial and then the corporate employees’ aspect. Women have been involved in the industry just as long as men have – although not in as great numbers” she said.
Other recipients of various awards at NIES 2022 gala night were; the Nigeria LNG Company Limited that bagged the 2021 Gas Infrastructure Project Company of the year award in the Nigeria oil and gas sector; Schlumberger Nigeria, Coleman Wires and Cables, Huawei Enterprises, Greenville LNG Limited, Samsung Heavy Industries and OVH Energy Marketing Company Limited.
Others were; Chevron Nigeria Limited, Waltersmith Petroman Company Limited, Shell Nigeria and Production Company, TotalEnergies, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and others.