Group seeks financial inclusion for women in Nigeria

A group, the Women’s World Banking (WWB), has convened a workshop to advance Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion (WDFI).

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WWB is an international non-profit organisation focused on advocating for women’s economic empowerment across the globe.

The workshop, held last week in Abuja, was conducted in partnership with the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion (PreCEFI), WWB said in a statement on 21 August.

The PreCEFI is a Nigerian inter-agency task force established in February 2025 to accelerate economic reforms and bridge financial gaps.

The statement said the workshop was intended to directly support Nigeria’s “aspiration to build a trillion-dollar economy by unlocking women’s full economic potential through increased access to and usage of financial services.”

“The interactive workshop explored collaborative partnerships in advancing WDFI in Nigeria, bringing together stakeholders from the public and private sectors,” the statement said.

It listed some of the private and public sectors to include the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, National Insurance Commission, Nigerian Communications Commission, Bank of Industry, Deposit Money Banks, Microfinance Institutions, FinTechs, and Development Finance Institutions.

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“The event was in furtherance of Nigeria’s national economic and financial inclusion goals of achieving 95 per cent financial inclusion and closing the nine per cent gender gap in access to financial services,” the statement added.

Participants at the workshop, according to the statement, recognised that women’s economic empowerment was central to inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and achieving macroeconomic stability.

Participants’ reactions

Speaking at the workshop, Nurudeen Zauro, the technical advisor on Economic and Financial Inclusion to Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, stressed that the synergy between PreCEFI and WWB was undeniable.

Mr Zauro said both PreCEFI and WWB prioritise listening to women, designing services around their realities, and scaling impact.

He also noted that the workshop was about aligning national and global strategies to accelerate progress towards Nigeria’s trillion-dollar economy aspiration.

Also speaking, Uche Uzoebo, the chief executive officer of Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities Limited (SANEF), praised WWB on the partnership and for convening the event.

SANEF is an initiative of the CBN created in 2019 to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria.

At the workshop, Ms Uzoebo noted that SANEF’s collaboration with WWB was imperative because it would accelerate the penetration of agent banking, particularly in northern Nigeria.

This, she said, will facilitate an increase in the number of women with access to financial services.

In her remarks, Elizabeth Gathai, the WWB’s regional head in Africa, emphasised Nigeria’s potential to lead Africa in women’s economic empowerment.

Ms Gathai argued that Nigeria’s lead in the initiative would boost access to productive credit, halving financial exclusion in the North, and driving gender-intentional policies that close the gap.

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She reaffirmed WWB’s commitment to building a “more resilient and inclusive financial system for women.”

At the event, the WWB and SANEF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand the agent banking footprint and productivity for women in northern Nigeria.

The MoU, according to the statement, signifies a “concrete step” toward delivering the Nigerian government’s inclusive finance commitments and ensuring that women are not left behind in the digital economy.