To mark the 2021 Women’s Day celebration, the Women in Energy Network (WIEN) collaborated with the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN) to organise the International Women’s Day Symposium. The WIEN-REAN symposium which was held on Saturday, the thirteenth of March, was filled with an assortment of energy players who contributed to discussions on topics critical to the energy sector.
The symposium looked to address issues such as ways of ensuring increased energy access in Nigeria and the role of women, energy transition and the role of women, how women can be involved in refining trends, gender policies in the workplace, funding and scaling female-led businesses, among others. However, one of the major highlights of this virtual conference was the launch of the Supernova Girl Initiative by the president of WIEN, Funmi Ogbue. The initiative aims to encourage and fund young girls in secondary schools who are interested in STEM courses.
The international women’s day symposium was divided into panels and open to members of the press. Some of the esteemed panellists, speakers, and guests that graced the occasion include Folake Soetan, the CEO of Ikeja Electric, Ammuna Lawan Ali, Patron, Women in Energy Network, Mallam Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Habiba Ali, the founder and CEO Sosai Renewable Energies.
Mallam Mele Kyari in his keynote address encouraged women to involve themselves actively in the gas sector, as their contributions are greatly needed especially since the government announced in 2020 its intentions of investing in that part of the energy industry. He said, ‘the federal government is currently focussing on gas development, we will be willing to partner with women in the area of provision of funds, infrastructure such as pipelines and of course, expertise as to how better we can go about achieving our goal for the development of Nigeria’. He added, ‘I particularly think women are a special breed and need the support of everyone to break barriers, shatter the glass ceiling, and get to the pinnacle of their careers. I am happy to be here with you.’
The international women’s day symposium shone a light on the importance of the role of women in energy access and transition into cleaner energy sources, and the need to understand problems affecting the energy industry so as to find country-specific solutions that would work perfectly.