The Nigerian chapter of New Faces New Voices (NFNV) has said Nigeria’s 2023 budget hasn’t prioritized Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) irrespective of the fact the president pledged to prioritize WEE across Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to maximize Nigerian women’s potential and boost the economy.
Ms Aisha Aminu Debola, the NFNV country said this while addressing journalists in a press briefing on WEE estimates of the National and State Budget, organized by NFNV Nigeria in collaboration with Development Research and Project Center (dRPC).
She pointed out that WEE gives women access to income and markets income and assets, control of and benefit from society, as well as the power to make decisions. This, therefore, means that denying women this opportunity translates to denial of their voice, income, assets, opportunities and power to make their own decisions.
“The 2023 projected budget shows that women-only and women-plus demographic groupings invested N58bn in WEE, down from the N103bn in 2022, which indicated that the 2023 WEE allocation fell by 90.8% compared to the 2022 allocation, showing an imbalance of WEE at the national level.
“On the state level, financial inclusion in Kano is very low with only 14.3% of women having a bank account which is attributed to unstable income and employment and therefore causing hindrance to women’s potential contribution to the nation’s socioeconomic progress. This affects women’s access to credit and savings culture in commercial and microfinance banks.” Ms Aisha said.
She then pleaded that the National Assembly should increase the strategic role of MDAs, especially the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in WEE at the sub-National level, by funding the nation’s numerous women centres under the agency, adding that states should be clear in defining the beneficiaries of WEE projects as well as the target location for such projects, as well as provide loans and grants for WEE programs.
