Vera Wisdom-Bassey
Women In Energy Network (WIEN), a non-governmental organisation, recently held the maiden edition of its programme tagged, “Closing the Nigerian Energy Gap” in Lagos even as it joined the rest of the world to commemorate the International Women’s Day (IWD).
Speaking during the breakfast session of the programme, President of WIEN, Funmi Ogbue, said it was an opportunity for the organisation to come together to rub minds on issues they face in the energy sector as women and how much value they can bring to the table. According to her, closing the energy gap is one of the things she is passionate about.
Ogbue stated WIEN’s desire to see women achieving 30 per cent inclusion in the energy sector, noting that finding possibilities for more women in the energy industry is achievable.
She said, “there are many areas where women can be allowed to invest in the value chain. Women can own petrol stations, vessels, pipelines, among others, as entrepreneurs and employees. But with the network, the women can be employed as individuals to work in companies and as suppliers,” adding that they can be given more opportunities to become entrepreneurs.
She, therefore, called on government to mandate players in the sector to ensure inclusion of women in the energy and oil sector since most of them have experiences spanning over 30 years in the industry. She appealed that players in the sector should be more supportive of women by including them in their policies decisions.
The event, which brought together different women with intimidating track record of experience and accomplishments in the energy sector featured different keynote speakers on the way forward for the organisation, as well as opportunities that will bring about measurable increase in the number of women playing in the energy sector.
One of the keynote speakers, Elohor Olaniyo, who spoke on the topic, “Opportunity in the Oil and Gas Industry to Close the Energy Gap” called on the women to think of how to support the people bringing services such as the sanitisers and other services.
Olaniyo stated that, “we need to upgrade our knowledge, work together, but most importantly, we need to have a clear expectation and know what we are focusing on and key to it; this will help in closing the gap.”