By Abdulgafar Oladimeji
The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has stated that the women folk posses high intelligence capacity, urging them to exert their skills In the discharge of their professional duties..
Rt. Hon Amaechi made the remarks last Thursday, March 25, at the 2021 Women National Business Agenda Policy Dialogue staged by the Association of Nigerian Women Business Network (ANWBN) in Abuja with the theme, “Women Leadership and Economic Equality.
He appealed to women to collaborate and support women in the rural areas to enhance their capacity too.
In his words “Please don’t ask that something should be set aside for you, ask for your right. Ask yourselves basic questions on what to do to alleviate poverty”.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, lamented that Nigeria alongside other nations is grappling with the burden of the pandemic, climate change, gender inequalities conflicts and other vices, Tallen posit that entrusting wome with key leadership role would help address these challenges
She said “In Nigeria, we have experienced an apparent deficit of women in the formal sector of the economy. Women are estimated to own only 20 percent of enterprises in the formal sector and hold only 11.7 percent as Board of Directors in the country. The situation is partly explained by women’s limited access to finance, which is worsened by their lack of access to acceptable collateral.
“As more women ascend to corporate ladder, more women entrepreneur associations have emerged in the country to challenge and address some of the barriers they encounter in financing their businesses. The existence of these groups have helped to shape advocacy and sensitization for supporting women entrepreneurship as important to women’s success.
“There is a need to understand that identifying women’s empowerment and their engagement in entrepreneurship activities is key to attaining economic prosperity”, she expressed.
“There is a growing consensus that women empowerment, if well promoted responds to women’s engagement in productive activities that engenders development and poverty reduction. In all of these, collaboration is key. Let us change our strategy by loving and supporting each other”, she stressed
A Trustee Member of ANWBN, Iyalode Alaba Lawson advised women to work joitly to pursue the developmental interest of women in Nigeria and across the globe.
Lawso said “If we can unite, we can get ourselves together, if we can work together, we can work far and make a good impact in this great country.”
