Experts have posited that the path to sustainable inclusive growth is the key to driving financial inclusion.
Speaking at the delivering a keynote address, “Financial Inclusion as a tool to unlock Nigeria’s potential and enable inclusive economic growth”, at the 2019 EFInA Financial Inclusion Conference in Lagos, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Deputy Governor for Financial System Stability, Aishah Ahmad, said, the path to inclusive eco- nomic growth is paved with women’s economic empowerment.
According to her, “the gender gap is rising. It is a worrying trend that underscores the importance of this research. We need to work with targeted segments and speak to their unique challenges. It requires not incremental thinking, but bold, visionary ideas that will drive transformation.”
According to the EFInA report titled: “Assess- ment of Women’s Financial Inclusion in Nigeria”, which was launched recently, 38.6 per cent of Nigerians (76 million) are financially excluded with greater percentage being women and people from Northern extraction.
To boost financial inclusion, Ahmad said, “elevating the economic participation and contributions of all citizens including youths, women and other marginalized sectors in the economy, may be the biggest opportunity that we have at hand and it may be the key at revamping growth and making it sustainable”.
Speaking about the research, Ashley Immanuel, Head of Programmes at EFInA, said “this research highlights the ways in which gender inequality in Nigeria contributes to differences in financial access for men and women. To address the financial inclusion gender gap, we need to work together to address this gender inequality, earn women’s trust in financial services, and explore ways to build a better business case for reaching excluded women.”