NAWOJ President inaugurated into women LPG scale-up, empowerment initiative committee

Aisha Ibrahim, the National Chairperson of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), has been officially inaugurated as a member of the Women LPG Scale-Up and Empowerment Initiative steering committee.

The inauguration, which took place under the leadership of the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) — a global mandate focused on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.

Among other distinguished members of the committee are Professor Mohammed M. Ibrahim (Chairman, NGEP), Dr. Maryam Keshinro (Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs), and Princess Edna Azura (President, National Council of Women Societies, NCWS).

The steering committee has been tasked with the strategic oversight, coordination and facilitation of the Clean Cooking initiative to be energized by LPG which is abundant in Nigeria for Nigerian households at National and sub-national levels.

The committee is set to have a Strategic Planning and Policy Development, Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration, Resource Mobilization, Technology Selection and Distribution, Capacity Building, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting, Risk Management and Mitigation, Sustainability and Scalability with expected outcomes of Widespread adoption of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and technologies on entrepreneurial bases among Nigerian women Nationwide, improved health outcomes through reduced indoor air pollution, enhanced environmental conversation through reduced reliance on traditional biomass fuels, Economic empowerment of women through participation in clean cooking value chains, Strengthening capacity of national and sub-national governments to implement and sustain LPG based clean energy initiates.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Imaan Sulaiman –Ibrahim who is the chairperson of the committee in her speech expressed her excitement to make significant advancement in line with the strategic roadmap towards eradicating energy poverty and ensuring that women, especially at the grassroot are not just beneficiaries of clean energy but active creators , entrepreneurs and leaders within it.

She noted hat there are already blue print aligned with SDG 7 on energy access, our national Contributions (NDCs) , and the Beinjing +30 CEDAW frameworks. What is needed now is execution that will yield results. She also urged the committee members to bring in their experience, creativity and conviction into this process.

She emphasized the initiative is more than cooking fuels. It is about health, it is about climate action, it is about economic freedom. It is about dignity and above all, it is about empowering Nigerian women to light the path to national development.