Women key to economic growth – CBN

Active participation of women in politics and economic activities has been identified as a major way of achieving the developmental dreams of any nation. This was contained in a keynote address presented by the Deputy Governor, Monetary Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Sarah Alade, at a 2-day national conference on “Women and Development” organised […]

Active participation of women in politics and economic activities has been identified as a major way of achieving the developmental dreams of any nation.
This was contained in a keynote address presented by the Deputy Governor, Monetary Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Sarah Alade, at a 2-day national conference on “Women and Development” organised by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) held at the university’s Auditorium recently. Dr Alade, who was represented by Dr. Angela Ejembi, said the empowerment of women and girls was key to unlocking economic growth.
“Women marginalisation in political and economic opportunities will continue to hinder poverty reduction, productivity, competitiveness, growth and democratic advancement,” she said.
According to her, the exclusion of women in national activities was a major cause of staggering poverty and declining prosperity.
She said empowerment of women for leadership positions will help to promote good governance and wellbeing of citizens. According to her, women in governance will influence the flow of funds into investments like education and health, these she said will have positive effect on the welfare of citizens.
In his speech, the Vice Chancellor of NSUK Professor Muhammad Mainoma said women play vital roles in national development, adding that people should be given equal opportunity to excel and gender should never be considered as an impediment to progress.
Similarly, the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences NSUK, Professor Andrew Zamani, in his remarks said one of the objectives of the conference is to facilitate the development of an evidence-based policy formulation mechanism on gender relation and to examine the place of women in the gender equation of Nigeria’s national development.
The conference drew participants from the academia, government agencies and the civil society, including the former national president of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor H. A. Asobie, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) University of Calabar, Professor Maisie Etukudo, representatives of National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Nigerian Army and the Air force.
Ofim, Clement and Agu are 400-Level Mass Communication Students, NSUK