Empowering women to lead Nigeria’s green energy transition
ACETNews
Members of frontline women-led associations, policy makers, development partners, innovators, investors and entrepreneurs in renewable energy sector recently converged on Herbert Wigwe Auditorium, Legend Hotel Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos for a one-day summit.
The gathering, which was the 1st International and 3rd National Green Summit and Exhibition (WIGSE-2026) with the theme Empowering Women to lead Africa’s Green Transition, deliberated on opportunities and challenges of green economy among other issues.
Minister of Regional Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, has called for greater inclusion of women in Nigeria’s transition to a green and climate-resilient economy, noting that women must move beyond being beneficiaries of environmental policies to becoming leaders, investors, entrepreneurs and decision-makers.
Speaking at the summit sponsored by Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), a technical support programme funded by EU and BMZ with implementation oversight by GIZ, Momoh highlighted the roles of women in driving sustainable development and responding to the growing impact of climate change.
According to him, the question confronting Africa is not simply how to achieve an environmentally sustainable transition, but how to ensure that the process is economically inclusive and socially just.
He noted that women across Africa were already at the frontline of climate change, particularly as farmers, traders, processors, caregivers and custodians of indigenous knowledge.
“Women are often the first to experience the consequences of climate change through declining agricultural yields, flooding, desertification, erosion, water scarcity and the loss of traditional livelihoods,” he said.
However, the minister who was represented by Engr. Okodugha Dauda Aluyah, the S. A to Momoh, stressed that women should not be regarded merely as victims of climate change, noting that they were already developing innovative solutions in climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, sustainable fashion, clean cooking, waste management, agro-processing and ecosystem restoration.
He, therefore, urged stakeholders to dismantle structural barriers limiting women’s participation in the emerging green economy, particularly barriers relating to policy, finance, technology and access to productive assets.
Momoh emphasized that the Federal Government, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, recognised environmental sustainability, economic diversification, infrastructure development and social inclusion as mutually reinforcing pillars of national development.
He explained that the Ministry of Regional Development had a strategic role to play through its coordination and supervision of the regional development commissions covering the six geopolitical zones.
He said regional development should go beyond the construction of roads and bridges to include building resilient local economies, protecting ecosystems, developing human capital and empowering communities whose livelihoods depend heavily on natural resources.
Highlighting initiatives in the Niger Delta, Momoh cited the deployment of solar-powered streetlights, saying the intervention had improved mobility, extended commercial activities and enhanced security in beneficiary communities.
He noted that such interventions were particularly beneficial to women traders and small business owners whose productivity and safety were often constrained by inadequate electricity.
He also highlighted women’s empowerment initiatives involving entrepreneurship, agriculture, business management, product development, packaging, market access and export readiness.
According to him, access to finance must be combined with training, technology, storage and market opportunities to enable women to move from subsistence production to commercially viable and sustainable value chains.
Momoh said similar opportunities were being created through development interventions in the Northeast and other regions, particularly in agriculture, livelihood restoration, youth and women empowerment, community resilience and green enterprise.
He disclosed that the ministry had developed an Integrated Climate Action Plan covering the six geopolitical zones, with emphasis on translating climate commitments into practical regional interventions.
The minister called for gender-responsive development policies, stressing that climate and infrastructure projects should be assessed for their impact on women and that women must participate in their design, implementation and validation.
He identified emerging areas including solar installation and maintenance, geographic information systems, climate-smart agriculture, environmental engineering, digital commerce, recycling technology and carbon-market services as fields where women and girls should be deliberately equipped to participate.
“The green economy must not become another system in which women supply informal labour while ownership, technology and capital remain elsewhere,” he warned.
He assured that the Ministry of Regional Development would continue to encourage the regional development commissions to mainstream gender inclusion, environmental sustainability and climate resilience into their programmes.
Momoh also called for stronger collaboration among government ministries, departments and agencies, state and local governments, financial institutions, development partners, the private sector, traditional institutions and civil society organisations.
He said the resolutions from the summit should translate into practical partnerships capable of creating sustainable livelihoods, resilient communities and investable women-led green enterprises across Nigeria.
“Together, let us make the green transition not only a response to climate change, but a pathway to prosperity, equality and renewed hope for the women of Nigeria and Africa,” he said.
While declaring the summit open, Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on National Planning and Economic Affairs, Senator Augustine Akobundu, said that in an era when climate change threatens our very existence, platforms like this are not just timely, they are essential.
He stressed that Nigeria must stop treating climate change as a mere environmental concern because it is an economic imperative, a national value priority, and a security challenge. He noted that the cost of inaction is one ‘we can no longer afford,’ adding that ‘we must act now, decisively and collectively, before complacency causes the planet to fall apart.’
“As Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on National Planning and Economic Affairs, I am, together with my colleagues, championing carbon finance as a tool to attract climate investment by leveraging our abundant gas resources, vast forests, agricultural potential, and renewable energy capacity. And this we intend to achieve through diligent legislative actions.
“To further demonstrate my commitment as a person to this cause, I have resolved to start pushing for prioritization of renewable energy projects in our national budget process. But governments cannot do this alone. We need the ingenuity of the private sector, the drive of innovators, and the leadership of associations like Green Health and the Renewable Energy Association to accelerate this transition,” he added.
According to him, when women lead on energy, the whole nation gains, adding that their work is lighting the path for others to follow. “I therefore call on public-security individuals, civil society, corporate organizations, and government establishments to not only emulate this association, this association’s commitment to renewing our environment, but also support them to fully achieve their noble objectives,” Senator Akobundu said.
President WIRE-A and convener WIGSE-2026, Dr. Anita Nana Okuribido said the summit is envisioned as a transformative platform for positioning African women as a part of the continent’s green transition. To her, Africa does not only need women to participate in the green economy, it needs women to lead.
She maintained that the green economy cannot achieve its full potential when half of the population remains underrepresented in leadership and investment.
She observed that women-led green businesses and innovators continue to experience challenges which include limited access to affordable finance and early-stage capital, inadequate access to technology and technical infrastructure, limited representation in energy and climate policy processes, skills and capacity gaps, weak access to markets and investment networks, limited mentorship and business development support, inadequate visibility of successful women-led innovation
But, she identified six specific areas the summit would focus, which include women and renewable energy leadership, green entrepreneurship, innovation, and climate technology, gender-responsive green finance and investment. Others are climate action, resilience, and environmental sustainability, circular economy, clean cooking, and sustainable production and policy, governance, and inclusive green economy transition.
The event, which featured panel discussions by speakers from across the globe, also witnessed exhibition of goods and services by government agencies and private organizations in the energy sector. Osun state Governor Ademola Adeleke, Abubakar Momoh, Senator Augustine Akubundu and Dr. Sunny Akpoyibo were among those honoured with awards. The summit also flagged off the Smiling Simon Green Build Foundation’s ‘Light up Lagos’ through the lens of Africa rural children and the empowering 40 students with 40 Solar reading lamps.