The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon, has lamented that only 15 per cent of Nigerian women have bank accounts. Kallon stated this on the occasion to commemorate International Women’s Day in Abuja. According to him, only 1per cent of Nigerian women have access to capital from formal financial services, stressing that women have less access to education especially in the rural areas.
“In Nigeria, gender inequality not only exists, but remains at highly worrying levels. There are gender gaps in almost all areas of human development: low levels of women’s representation in elective positions, inequalities in access to paid employment; significant gap between men and women in the labour market, sexual violence and exploitation, and discrimination in public decision-making and resource allocation.
“Even though women supply between 50—70 per cent of the labour, they have less than 20 per cent of the agricultural assets and own only 7 per cent of the land. Women account for just 1 per cent of access to capital from formal financial services and hold only 15 per cent of bank accounts.”
He admonished Nigerian leaders to review all policies that encourage gender inequalities in the country to address the situation.
Also speaking at the occasion, Ms. Comfort Lamptey, the UN Women Country Representative in Nigeria, called for the improvement of the living conditions of women, especially those living in the rural areas. She said there was urgent need to break the cycle of poverty among women in rural areas while efforts are also intensified toward addressing the issues of violence and sexual assaults against women.
