Power Dialogue: Women seek more space in electricity enterprises, eye managerial levels

At the November Power Dialogue organised by Nextier Power in Abuja, more women have come out to demand for increased presence in the power sector enterprises and in managerial levels of energy utility firms. The women, who cut across public and private sector enterprises, said Nigeria must have deliberate plans to increase the representation of […]

At the November Power Dialogue organised by Nextier Power in Abuja, more women have come out to demand for increased presence in the power sector enterprises and in managerial levels of energy utility firms.

The women, who cut across public and private sector enterprises, said Nigeria must have deliberate plans to increase the representation of women in technical areas of the electricity supply industry.

The Principal Partner of Nextier, Mr Emeka Okpukpara said the monthly dialogue raises issues in the power sector that ought to be resolved to boost development. 

He noted that the November session on ‘Women Empowered’ was to seek expert ways of ensuring more women joining the sector through enterprises in solar and renewable energy businesses, or rising to the peak in energy utility firms.

The Country Director of a power consultancy firm,  EMRC, Rahila Thomas, said a report of an assessment of opportunities for women in the energy sector done by Ernst & Young indicated that only about five  per cent of executive board members at the top 200 power and utilities companies are women.

“In developed countries, only 20 per cent women represent workers in the energy sector and that they are mostly working in non-technical fields such as administration and public relations. Most likely to be smaller in developing countries,” she said.

Citing the report, Rahila said “In the Nigerian power sector, our assessment of the Generation Companies (GenCos) shows that we have 23 CEOs. There is no female CEO in  management or board, we have only two female CFOs and company secretaries.

“In the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos), there is only one female CEO and three female CFOs. In the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) all the general managers are male, with only one female as company secretary,” Rahila noted.

Another speaker and Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi, said women must stay positive in what they do. 

She said she left her comfortable job to take up a job with the Lagos State Government with a pay four times less than what she earned earlier for the sake of patriotism to Nigeria.

Damilola who is also the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Power in the Office of the Vice President and Coordinator of the Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP), said after the job which was to provide constant electricity for hospitals in Lagos, there was a remarkable reduction in infant mortality rate by 40 per cent. 

The Managing Director of Geometric Power Ltd, Mrs Agatha Nnaji, agreed with other women at the event that women are not well represented in the sector.

She said some international agencies encouraged women to apply for employment, adding that should be replicated in Nigeria.  

Mrs Nnaji who is the wife of a former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, said she understudied her boss before she became the head of Geometric Power. She said the power of women to turnaround businesses can never be underestimated because they have less ego and develop more passion to get issues resolved.

The participants urged young women to be much more dedicated so they can leverage on empowering themselves through businesses and scale to the peak of their career.