Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria have called on the federal and state governments to ensure that adequate allocations are provided in the proposed 2022 budget so that Nigerian women are given the opportunity to contribute to the development of the country.
The CSOs disclosed this on Friday in Abuja at the 62nd conference of the Nigerian Economic Society organized by the development Research and Projects Center under the Partnership in Advancing Women in Economic Development, PAWED.
In her presentation at the conference, Vera Ndanusa, the National President of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs said that it is incumbent on governments at all levels, including the National Assembly to take advantage of the ongoing debate on the proposed 2022 budget to fulfil their commitments to empowering women.
“Any nation that invests in women and empowers them economically, evidence has shown that that nation has the opportunity of growth and stability more than the ones not investing,” she said.
In his presentation, Idris Muhammed, the Director of Economic Services, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, assured that the federal government would continue to provide more investment for women as part of the vision of the administration that targets lifting 100 million people out of poverty by the end of 2023.
According to him, the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, is working hard to transform the Ministry so that women economic development and opportunities in the public and private sector will be made easy through policy improvements.
On his part, the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zakari Lawal, disclosed that efforts have reached an advanced level to ensure all allocations to women are monitored at all levels.
This, he said, would go a long way in advancing women economic development as governments at all levels will be able to evaluate their investment in women for better advancement.
Also speaking, the National President of the Nigerian Economic Society, Prof. Sarah Anyanwu, commended the coalition members of the PAWED for taking the advocacy on women empowerment to the conference.
Mrs Anyanwu assured that experts in economics would continue to demand more investment in women as evidence has shown the correlation between investing in women and national development.
NAN
