The Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development (PAWED), has called for financial and digital literacy of women in Nigeria in order to have access to financial inclusion and services of other stakeholders.
The National Coordinator of PAWED coalition, Dr. Vera Ndanusa, made the call during a Panel discussion on ‘Dialogue on Inclusive Finance as a Catalyst for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria’, jointly hosted by the Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), Development Research and Project Centre dRPC and PAWED.
Dr Vera, a discussant at the dialogue restated that empowerment for women involves ability to take decisions, to grow wealth and also entails the power to have dignity of life and the power to own property.
She called on the Nigerian government to design policies that are gender responsive thereby improving allocation of resources using gender responsive budgeting.
The Coordinator of PAWED stressed that the level of poverty among women in the northern region is more prominent and varies to that of Southern part of the country.
“Women lack pre-requisite information to access financial funds due to lack of collateral”
In her Presentation on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria: A Critical look at Access to Financial Services, Dr Oluwatomi Eromosele, an Economist with the Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), disclosed that 70 percent of women in Nigeria own a mobile phone.
Dr Vera however called for adequate and timely release of empowerment funds to ensure that women have access to finance when mostly needed.
Eromosele added that technology is an enabler that drives access to finance for women hence financial service providers and other stakeholders should take advantage of this.
She disclosed that a total of 21million women in Nigeria are financially excluded hence the need to offer financial literacy leveraging on technology.
She disclosed that 15percent of women in Nigeria rely solely on informal financial service provider
“There is need to formalise the Informal channels that provides financial services to women” She added.
Dr. Zakaria Lawal, the Director, National Monitoring & Evaluation Department at the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, said the 2021-2025 development plan of the federal government prioritises women and targets intervention protection against business collapse.
The panelists agreed on the need for deployment of digital literacy to increase access to finance for women.
