The Emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Muhammad Sanusi II, has called on financial regulators to compel banks to disclose the number and value of loans granted to women-led businesses as part of efforts to close Nigeria’s gender financing gap.
Sanusi made the call on Thursday in Lagos while delivering a goodwill message at the third Gender Impact Investment Summit and the launch of the Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Roadmap 2025–2035.
He argued that mandatory disclosure would drive healthy competition among banks while exposing those with poor records of supporting women entrepreneurs.
> “Nobody is forcing you to lend to women, but publish the numbers. If you have lent to 10,000 companies and only five are women-led while your competitor lent to 200, the discipline of disclosure itself will drive competition,” Sanusi said.
The former CBN governor also pushed for political reforms to guarantee women’s participation in governance, lamenting that only four of Nigeria’s 109 senators are female.
“Why can’t the constitution require that 30 to 40 per cent of cabinet positions go to women? Why can’t at least one senatorial district in every state be reserved for women on a rotational basis? How can laws favourable to women be passed under such conditions?” he queried.
Despite an improvement in financial inclusion — from 56 per cent in 2020 to 64 per cent in 2023 — only six per cent of Nigerian women currently have access to formal credit, according to Women’s World Banking.
The International Labour Organisation also estimates that women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) account for between 32.9 and 40 per cent of Nigerian businesses.
At the summit themed “Investing in Equity: Advancing Gender-Led Solutions for Inclusive Development,” global gender finance advocate and CEO of 2xGlobal, Jessica Espinosa, stressed that closing the gender financing gap could unlock a $6 trillion economic opportunity worldwide.
“Investing in women as entrepreneurs, owners, and leaders consistently boosts financial performance. Closing the gender finance gap is both a moral imperative and a huge market opportunity,” she said.
The GESI Roadmap 2025–2035, unveiled by the Impact Investors Foundation in partnership with PwC Nigeria, targets mobilising $8 billion in gender-inclusive capital, launching 40 inclusive financial products, integrating GESI principles into 90 per cent of investment partners, and enacting at least 20 supportive policy reforms.
Chairman of the Foundation, Frank Aigbogun, described the roadmap as “a commitment to ensure capital is not exclusive but truly inclusive,” while former FirstBank Chairperson, Ibukun Awosika, said empowering women and marginalised groups was critical to building an equitable society.
“We only gain when we use the best of our people, male or female. A nation that creates opportunities for women and people with disabilities strengthens its social and economic fabric,” Awosika remarked.
Chief Executive of the Impact Investors Foundation, Etemore Glover, added that the framework was designed as a continental model to help close Africa’s estimated $42 billion women’s financing gap.
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