The Central Bank of Nigeria says it is partnering with the National Centre for Women Development toward improving the credit facilities for female entrepreneurs in the country.
The Head, Strategy Coordination Office, Financial Inclusion Secretariat Development, CBN’s Finance Department, Attah Joseph, said this during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the NCWD in Abuja.
Joseph said there was the need to improve women’s access to finance, noting that the meeting was geared towards finding possible initiatives that could address the challenges faced by women in accessing financial
services.
“Finance is very essential to growth, development and general welfare because it affects business activities and basic human needs.
“There is lingering disparity which shows that women’s access to funds is lower than men’s, despite their obvious importance to nation-building.
“Our 2017 survey shows that 42.3 per cent of men have accounts while only 30 per cent of women do not have accounts and access to interventions,” he said.
Joseph added that countries with more bank accounts and more access to finance are better in human development, saying there was huge connection between finance and wellbeing of countries worldwide.
Responding, the Director-General, NCWD, Mary Ekpere-Eta, said the centre only got intervention from the Federal Government, adding that the funds were not enough.
Ekpere-Eta, therefore, sought assistance from the CBN to enable the reactivation of various women development centres across the country.
According to her, interventions can reach more women, particularly at the grassroots, through these
centres.
“Recently, we trained female artisans and gave them start-up funds; we need to supervise them but funds are always not enough.
“So, we accommodate them here for a period of time and then, we are trying to get trademark for them and help them create market.
“We will like you to buy into the reactivation of women development centres across the federation, to enable women at the grassroots have access to funds,” she said.
