AS of January 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported that Nigerian women had earned credits worth N203.31 billion as a result of its operations.
Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank, made the announcement at a webinar hosted by Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, Deputy Governor in Charge of the Financial System Stability (FSS) Directorate, as part of activities marking the CBN’s 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD).
Emefiele stated that the bank’s intervention programs, such as the Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) and the COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility, have benefited women greatly (TCF).
He said that as of January 2022, 33 percent (N44.1 billion) of the N134.67 billion disbursed to 37,273 AGSMEIS beneficiaries went to 12,511 female beneficiaries, while 45 percent (N159.21 billion) of the N349.51 billion disbursed to 712,442 total beneficiaries under the TCF went to 330,128 female beneficiaries.
He claimed that the MSME Development Fund (MSMEDF) was created with the goal of allocating at least 60% of the fund to women and women-owned businesses, with women accounting for 60.3 percent of the 229,579 recipients.
Furthermore, female borrowers accounted for 92,091 of the 211,306 financial statements officially listed in the collateral registry, or 43.6 percent.
He bemoaned the fact that women had been disproportionately affected by both the COVID-19 epidemic and the effects of climate change, saying that the CBN “was utilizing the 2022 International Women’s Day as an occasion to highlight women who are at the forefront of these twin crises.”
Emefiele said the bank was “taking strategic actions in areas such as recruitment, retention, succession planning, and return-to-office work arrangements in order to address these gender gaps”.
He revealed that the CBN had since surpassed affirmative action with 32 percent of the total workforce being female.
“It is only by unleashing the full potential of women to participate fully in the economy that we can strengthen growth, eliminate poverty, create jobs and respond effectively to the mounting global challenges, from the pandemic to climate change,” Emefiele declared.
He emphasized that the CBN has also set a policy requiring a minimum of 30% female involvement on boards of directors and 40% female representation at the highest management level in the banking industry. This, he claimed, was akin to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy’s recommendation that microfinance institutions hire 30 percent female staff.
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