Ekiti Moves to Mainstream Women’s Economic Empowerment

Ekiti State Government is moving to make women’s economic empowerment a shared responsibility across ministries and agencies, following a week-long stakeholder consultation on the domestication of Nigeria’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Policy and Action Plan.

The consultation brought together government officials, financial institutions, private-sector organisations, civil society groups, women-focused organisations and professional bodies to identify barriers preventing women from gaining greater access to jobs, finance, markets, land, technology and other economic opportunities.

Ekiti Moves to Mainstream Women’s Economic Empowerment

Speaking at the technical session of the engagement in Ado-Ekiti, the lead consultant, Prof. Olabisi Aina, said the state could not achieve meaningful economic empowerment for women if responsibility remained with the Ministry of Women Affairs.

She called on ministries and agencies overseeing finance, agriculture, education, infrastructure, labour, transportation and technology to take specific responsibility for advancing women’s participation in their respective sectors.

Prof. Aina said Nigeria adopted the National Women’s Economic Empowerment Policy in 2023 to tackle structural and institutional barriers limiting women’s contribution to economic development.

She urged Ekiti to build gender considerations into government planning, budgeting, policymaking and service delivery rather than treating women’s empowerment as a stand-alone programme.

The technical session included key informant interviews, focus group discussions and validation meetings designed to identify the economic challenges facing women across different sectors and parts of the state.

Governor Biodun Oyebanji also pledged his administration’s support for the initiative, saying women remain central to Ekiti’s socio-economic development.

The governor, who received the WEE technical team at the Governor’s Office through the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Habibat Adubiaro, pointed to government interventions in skills development, enterprise support and opportunities connected to the Ekiti Knowledge Zone and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Investment and Cooperatives.

He said the state would work with relevant stakeholders to strengthen programmes aimed at improving women’s economic wellbeing, inclusion and independence.

The consultation examined five priority areas: agriculture and rural development, entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium enterprises, financial inclusion, education and skills, and labour.

Participants also identified opportunities for women in technology, e-commerce, renewable energy, creative industries, fashion, agribusiness, digital finance, tourism and media.

But access remains a major challenge.

Stakeholders identified inadequate access to finance, land, technology, markets, infrastructure and productive assets as key constraints facing women, particularly those running businesses in the informal economy.

They called for stronger support for women-owned businesses, alongside affordable credit, improved financial literacy, digital banking services, insurance and better access to markets.

The participants also urged the government to improve the collection of sex-disaggregated data, saying reliable data would help the state identify gaps, allocate resources and measure the impact of programmes targeting women.

Unpaid care work emerged as another major barrier to women’s participation in the labour market. Stakeholders called for better childcare services, social protection and family-friendly workplace policies to reduce the burden on women.

The proposed framework is expected to cover women across rural and urban communities, different age groups and women living with disabilities.

The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Olapeju Babafemi, commended the Oyebanji administration for supporting initiatives aimed at advancing the rights and development of women and girls.

The domestication process is expected to produce a stakeholder consultation report, sector-specific analysis of barriers facing women, an inventory of existing interventions, a stakeholder map and a priority intervention matrix.

It will also develop monitoring and evaluation indicators for a proposed five-year Ekiti State Women’s Economic Empowerment Action Plan.

If adopted, the framework would place women’s economic empowerment within the responsibilities of the wider government and economy, with attention to finance, skills, employment, markets, technology, land and enterprise.

The broader goal is to move women and girls from being recipients of government programmes to active participants in Ekiti’s economic growth.