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Non-Governmental Organisation, Afrigrants, charged with women empowerment by providing training and literacy skills through a financial inclusion programme, has uncovered that 40 million Nigerians, including 20 million women have no bank accounts. The Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the Afrigrants, Thelma Ekiyor, also noted that the nation’s women are not inclusive in day to day financial transaction because in most cases they are illiterate, not knowing how to keep financial records. Speaking at the weekend on the occasion of, ‘Empowering Women in Kaduna State with Financial Literacy Skills’, by UN Women, Procter & Gamble, P&G, in collaboration with Afrigrants, Ekiyor disclosed that 250 women were carefully selected for the first batch training in Kaduna. She said the programme which runs into four batches, will, at its end “see the women becoming distributors of P&G products. According to her, “The record of 40 million Nigerians that don’t have bank accounts is a data from a researched work at the CBN. You find out that 40 Nigerians are financially excluded, which means they don’t have bank accounts. “They cannot access financial services, and half of that figure is women, so you can see that there is a big problem. “One of the causes of this financial exclusion is lack of financial literacy. They don’t know how to manage their money; they don’t know how to take sound decision on their money. So training on financial literacy is an important foundation to address major problem of financial exclusion”. UN Women Country Representative, Mr. Lansana Wonneh, noted that women and girls made up almost half of Nigeria’s population, but their contribution to measure economic activity, growth and well-being is far below its potential, resulting in significant socio-economic consequences. 65% women are living below the poverty line in Nigeria. Also speaking, the Director on public policy, P&G, Temitope Iluyemi said, “There are many opportunities for both men and women in Nigeria, yet women are mostly excluded and disadvantaged. “However, through this programme, we aim to empower women with the right tools and knowledge needed to setup and grow their businesses to become major contributors to the economy.” source: Nigerian pilot
By: Welsh Jeje