Sopuruchi Onwuka

Africa’s leading gender equity advocate, the Women in Energy Network (WIEN) has called for urgent structural reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, warning that systemic barriers continue to limit women’s participation in the workforce, leadership and enterprise ownership.

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In a presentation it delivered during a policy engagement with the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs Olu Verheijen, WIEN pointed at data that show persistent gender gaps across the energy sector.

The WIEN delegation led by the President of the group, Mrs Eyono Fatai-Williams, decried continued reflection of structural barriers standing against the growth of female professionals and women-led businesses in the energy sector. The group noted that gender stereotypes have continued to entrench even despite visible capabilities mustered by female professionals in the industry.

In rolling out the figures, Mrs Fatai-Williams noted that women account for 18.2 percent of Nigeria’s energy workforce and 25.6 percent of leadership roles.

President of WIEN, Mrs Eyono Fatai-Williams

Of more than 35,000 companies active on the industry’s Joint Qualification System platform, fewer than 2 percent are women-owned, the group showed in its presentation.

The poor representation of women in industry leadership and poor patronage of women-led business in the energy sector, according to WIEN, continue to dampen the interest of upcoming ladies to take up careers in the energy industry.

According to WIEN, women represent just 17 percent of current enrolments in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at colleges and universities; a figure the Network says signals a constrained technical pipeline into the future.

Also, according to WIEN, low patronage of women-led service companies in the sector continue to lead to underutilization of technical and financial capacity.

According to the group, the challenge is not a lack of capable women-owned businesses but limited access to bankable contract opportunities.

WIEN argued that current procurement structures which require companies to demonstrate asset ownership and technical capacity before they can secure contracts create a circular constraint for emerging firms.

Without assets, there are no contracts; without contracts, there is no financing; and without financing, firms cannot acquire assets; WIEN pointed out.

WIEN made it clear that the exclusion of women and women-led enterprises in the current pan-industry efforts to rebuild the country’s production capacity and rapidly boost production requires that all available capacity is challenged with opportunities.

“This is not a social issue. It is a structural and strategic issue,” WIEN said, adding that Nigeria cannot meet its energy security goals while a significant share of its industry capacity remains underutilized.

The group also called for stronger female representation at board level, noting that governance diversity improves capital allocation, risk oversight and long-term resilience.

WIEN maintained that diversity, equity and inclusion in Nigeria’s energy sector is not about tokenism but about competitiveness, capital formation and long-term energy security.

It stressed the need to strengthen the pipeline of young women entering STEM studies through targeted internships, mentorship programs and industry-backed exposure initiatives.

The Senior Special Adviser acknowledged the concerns of WIEN and expressed commitment to policies that prevent women from being structurally excluded from economic opportunities in the energy industry.