The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms. Catriona Laing, Wednesday noted that the UK government has launched a $100 million program through the First Bank of Nigeria as direct funding to women-owned enterprises in Nigeria. Laing revealed this commitment at the Gender and Inclusion summit organized by the Policy Innovation Center, (PIC), an initiative of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) in Abuja. She said the investment is part of the implementation of the UK’s three Es projects, namely Educating girls, Empowering women, and Ending violence against women and girls. According to her, they were also digitizing Humanitarian services and cash transfers so that women can receive money directly into their bank account which gives them more empowerment.
Mary Beth Leonard, United States Ambassador to Nigeria also called on the Nigerian government and International partners to prioritize streamlining policies toward closing gender parity gaps. She reiterated that the US government prioritizes gender activity which was why it invests over $200 billion annually towards programming gender activity and equality globally.
Also, Alexandre Borges-Gomes, Deputy Head of the European Union delegation to Nigeria, restated the EU’s commitment to gender equality whilst noting that less than 50 percent of women in Nigeria have paid jobs against 76 percent of men, according to a recent survey.
The event took place at the Hilton Hotel, Abuja on 16th of November 2022
