CBN intervention programs provide women with N203.3 billion in credit

According to Godwin Emefiele, the top bank governor, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has remained gender sensitive, dispensing N203.31 billion in loans as of January 2022.

Emefiele made the announcement at a webinar conducted by Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, the Deputy Governor in Charge of the Financial System Stability (FSS) Directorate, as part of events marking the CBN’s 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD).

Emefiele said that the bank’s intervention programs, including as the Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) and the COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility, have greatly helped women (TCF).

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He said that as of January 2022, 33 percent (N44.1 billion) of the N134.67 billion disbursed to 37,273 AGSMEIS beneficiaries went to 12,511 female beneficiaries, while 45 percent (N159.21 billion) of the N349.51 billion disbursed to 712,442 total beneficiaries under the TCF went to 330,128 female beneficiaries.

He claimed that the MSME Development Money (MSMEDF) was created with the goal of allocating at least 60% of the fund to women and women-owned businesses, with women accounting for 60.3 percent of the 229,579 recipients.

Furthermore, female borrowers accounted for 92,091 of the 211,306 financial statements officially listed in the collateral registry, or 43.6 percent.

He bemoaned the fact that women had been disproportionately impacted by both the COVID-19 epidemic and the consequences of climate change, saying that the CBN “was utilizing the 2022 International Women’s Day as an occasion to highlight women who are at the forefront of these twin crises.”

In order to close the gender imbalance, Emefiele stated the bank was “taking strategic initiatives in areas including as recruiting, retention, succession planning, and return-to-office work arrangements.”

He claimed that the CBN has now exceeded affirmative action, with women accounting for 32 percent of the overall workforce.

“We can only enhance development, alleviate poverty, create employment, and deal effectively to the increasing global problems, from the pandemic to climate change, by releasing the full potential of women to engage fully in the economy,” Emefiele remarked.

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He emphasized that the CBN has also set a guideline requiring a minimum of 30% female involvement on boards of directors and 40% female representation at the highest management level in the banking industry. This, he claimed, was akin to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy’s recommendation that microfinance institutions hire 30 percent female personnel.