Women Affairs Minister, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, champions clean energy access for Nigerian women

The initiative aims to empower women as energy entrepreneurs, solar technicians, and last-mile distributors. Photo: Hadiza Abdulrahman/Radio Nigeria

Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, the Minister of Women Affairs, has called on stakeholders across sectors to unite in the fight against energy poverty, particularly as it affects Nigerian women and girls.

Speaking at a multi-stakeholder engagement convened by the Ministry in Abuja, the Minister described the moment as one of transition from promise to power and urged all partners to actively support the shift toward sustainable, inclusive energy access.

According to the Minister, the initiative will be driven by data and centred on empowering women through access to solar home systems, clean cooking technologies, solar water pumps, e-mobility tools, and other productive-use energy solutions.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim emphasized the urgency of the effort, revealing that more than 80,000 women in Nigeria die annually from exposure to toxic smoke caused by firewood and traditional stoves.

“These women are not statistics. They are mothers, providers, and nation-builders. Their deaths are unjust—and must end on our watch,” she said, describing the clean energy push as a matter of life, dignity, and national development.

With more than 85 million Nigerians still lacking access to electricity, many women and children in rural areas, the Minister decried the injustice of energy poverty.

She noted that women are often forced into cycles of unpaid labor, economic dependency, and poor health simply due to the absence of modern energy.

“In some communities, women spend up to 8 hours a week gathering firewood. Imagine what they could achieve with that time if they had access to power,” she said.

She commended the Nigeria Consumer Credit Corporation for co-hosting the engagement, noting that the collaboration highlights the creative approach of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope administration.

The engagement marked the beginning of a national conversation that will inform a woman-led clean energy transformation across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas.

Editing by Chinasa Ossai and Tony Okerafor