Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo, has commended women who have made remarkable strides through hard work and commitment in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
The Deputy Governor during the Women in Energy, Oil, and Gas Summit held in Port Harcourt recently, advocated for the fixing of the nation’s refineries and appealed to participants to join the Rivers State Government in the fight against illegal oil bunkering.
Banigo said the Summit was a bold statement by women in the South-South Region to change the narrative that women’s roles were not limited to being wives, but a potent force for social, economic and political changes towards rapid and sustainable growth and development.
She opined that the summit should not only serve as an umbrella for the inter-party and cross-cultural centripetal force for all women of substance but should also articulate and take appropriate steps that would address the lingering artificial and social-cultural barriers against women aspiring to fulfill destinies in their chosen professions in the society.
Also Speaking, First Lady of Bayelsa State, Mrs. Gloria Douye Diri, said the summit was coming at the appropriate time to sensitize women and tell the world that women were supposed to be heard and to be seen.
Earlier, National President of the Women in Energy, Oil, and Gas, Dr. Dunni Owo, said the agenda was neither to compete with men nor about feminism, but about maximizing the beautiful energy, which God has given to women.
Owo explained that the group desires to break the energy poverty bias, adding that they would continue to collaborate and support the men in breaking the energy poverty bias.
“We are not doing it alone it is a global thing. Women in Energy Oil and Gas is an organization that was incubated in 2017 and it commenced operation in 2018. We came across some American women in the industry and saw what they were helping Americans to achieve, we saw the gap in Nigeria as well and decided to form the group at Offshore Technology Conference in 2018 and since then, a lot of great things has happened.
“Our focus is to bring all the women in the industry, our aim and objective is Energy Women close the Energy Gap, Energy Women, move the nation forward.”
Follow us on twitter