The Federal and State governments must provide adequate allocations for women in the proposed 2022 budget so that Nigerian women are given the opportunity to contribute to the development of the country.
This call was made by civil society groups during a session organized by the development Research and Projects Center under the Partnership in Advancing Women in Economic Development at the 62nd conference of the Nigerian Economic Society in Abuja on Friday.
The National President of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs, Vera Ndanusa, said it is incumbent on governments at all levels, including representatives of the people at the national assembly to take advantage of the ongoing debate on the proposed 2022 budget to fulfill their commitments to empowering women.
“Any nation that invests in women and empowers them economically, evidence has shown that that nation has the opportunity of growth and stability more than the ones not investing,” she said.
The Director of Economic Services, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Idris commended the organizers and assured that the federal government will continue to provide more investment for women as part of the vision of the administration that targets to remove 100 million people out of poverty by the end of 2023.
On his part, the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zakari Lawal, disclosed that efforts have reached an advanced level to ensure all allocations are monitored to see how impactful they are on women.
In her opening remarks at the event, the National President of the Nigerian Economic Society, Professor Sarah Anyanwu commended the coalition members of the partnership for advancing women in economic development for taking the advocacy on women empowerment to the conference, assuring that experts in economics will continue to demand more investment in women as evidence has shown the correlation between investing in women and national development.
