FG challenges banks, Fintechs to unlock Nigeria’s $14.8 billion gender financing gap

The Federal Government of Nigeria has called on banks and fintechs to unlock Nigeria's $14.8 billion annual gender financing gap, addressing the challenge of women's economic transformation. At the Second National Gender Inclusion Conference 2026, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, emphasized that while Nigeria possesses the ambition to transform, the difficulty lies in the design of financial systems.

These systems were built with collateral recognition in mind, but women typically hold less collateral, leading to a multi-billion-dollar financing gap. The government is prepared to open its programme pipelines to institutions ready to test products at scale, while urging state governments to co-finance and localise national programmes.

The Vice President, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, stressed that any serious commitment to women's economic empowerment must have an owner, a metric, and a deadline, and must be visible, tracked, reviewed, and recognised through the National Gender and Financial Inclusion Awards.

Brief written by urgent.news from Nairametrics's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.