Govt should embrace values women bring to energy industry –Ogbue

After serving as President of Women in Energy Network (WIEN), the foremost gender equity advocacy group in the energy sector; Mrs Funmi Ogbue, who concluded an impactful tenure this November, declares that gender diversity and inclusiveness in Nigeria’s business environment is a goal the group is determined to accomplish. She pointed out that women hold immense potentials for closing the energy gap. We present summary of the excerpts. 

May we share some of challenges WIEN encounters in its gender equity advocacy?

We started WIEN in 2020 at the time when the concept of coming together as women in the energy industry was a bit new; particularly because most of the associations that had existed before were really targeted at one particular discipline or one area or the other. So this was the first time we were bringing women of all disciples across the upstream, midstream, downstream of the oil and gas, power and renewable sectors.

Bringing people with diverse experiences and disciples; it was the first time we were coming together to say ‘OK how can we close the gender gap, and also how can we close the energy gap?’ Because we realize that if gas is not talking to oil and oil is not talking to power and power is not talking to renewable energy, this whole ambition of closing the energy gap in our country and working towards the net zero future was going to be impossible.

So for me, that was really the opportunity that we saw and we came together to try and reach that. But that was also the challenge because these sectors are at different phases of development and also the people in the sectors have not traditionally collaborated.

You will agree that WIEN as a platform offers platform for convergence on the energy debate. It is on this same platform that you have an ExxonMobil and you have a solar company that is saying no I don’t want to talk to the big oil. You also have people in the power sector that is quite competitive: you have Ikeja Electric and Eko Distribution. You have all these people on this platform.

And bringing them together and putting them on the same page to say, ‘No, we have to close the gender gap; let’s focus on that.  And we have to close the energy gap; let’s focus on that.’

At least, those are the two things we all agreed about, because once we focus on the things that we can all agree about, then the things that divide us become less challenging.

What support and outlook do you hold for WIEN as you transit leadership?

I want to wish them all the very best and assure them that they can always count on me and us as the outgoing board. The energy that we have brought to bear in bringing this association to date is available to them.

But the truth of the matter is that Eyono Fatai-Williams who is the new President is one that served with me on the old board as the Vice President n charge of Gas. So, I have every confidence in her ability and in the continuity of the programme and agenda for WIEN because we have worked together.

After stepping down how would you sustain your passion for gender equity?

I am still in WIEN and I am a member of the Board of Trustees, so apart from working in that capacity to support the association, gender advocacy is something that I have really been involved in. I used to work for Shell and when I worked for Shell, I was Head of Diversity and Inclusiveness. And gender was one of the dimensions that Shell took very seriously.

So, I think that experience opened my eyes to the male dominance in the energy industry and I understood the business case. So it’s not an emotional effort; there’s a clear business case to gender diversity and inclusiveness.

So it really cannot be the end for me. And also as a woman in business; I have my own business. I am working in the space. I will continually show through my work and the work of everybody I know that women are invaluable and that we do bring something to the table and we can be counted on to support the advancement of our industry.

What milestones can you count and how short is the journey to WIEN’s advocacy goals?

I think that the country should not and cannot really afford to walk on one leg; I mean God has given you two. So if we want to industrialize, close the energy gap and deliver on the huge potential that this industry has to offer to the country, everyone should embrace the value that women bring.

 And we wrote to the President (Bola Tinubu) a few weeks ago, we congratulated him. He’s an oil and gas person really at heart. And in congratulating him, we also reminded him that women that have experience in this energy industry exist in our network and we encouraged his government to patronize, utilize their talents, skills and their abilities to bring a different perspective to bear in addressing some of the challenges that the energy industry faces in Nigeria.