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First Bank Nigeria has nurtured up to 71,253 Nigerian women under its First Gem initiative to skilfully manage their finances, engage in repaying investments as well as access structured capitals around Nigeria to grow their businesses, its chairman, Ibukun Awosika, has said.
Speaking during a breakout session tagged ‘Empowering Nigerian Women’ at the just concluded 25th edition of the annual Nigerian Economic Summit (NES), Awosika, stated that through the First Gem, the bank has identified and is gradually removing challenges preventing women in Nigeria from becoming economically productive.
Awosika’s disclosure of the impacts of the First Gem coincided with the recognition accorded the bank by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) for fostering nation-building through its support for the summit.
The NESG gave the bank its ‘Long Service Corporate Award’ for distinguished financial and technical support over 20 consecutive unbroken years, thus demonstrating loyalty, steadfastness, passion and partnership towards nation building and economic development.
Awosika highlighted the need for Nigeria to bring the women folk into economic growth plan, saying that it is necessary to guarantee comprehensive development.
“When we are talking about women, it is business and national development issue. It is not gender issue. We will have a balanced life when women get to deliver their share of what is required to build a nation,” said Awosika.
According to her, for Nigeria to grow its economy, it must maximise the value of all her human resources, including its female population, as well as find ways to take out the limitations that hold women back from actively participating in economic development.
“There are lots of talk shops about funds that are provided and structured for women to access, but there are structural defects that make it impossible for women to effectively access those funds. If women don’t have clear property rights, it is a challenge, because for a structure where collateral is required, there is a challenge.
“Part of what we have done in First Bank in the last three years is that we decided to build a project we called the First Gem to try and solve some of the critical issues that we identified, like women’s lack of ownership of personal assets for building wealth, and that also translated into the mindset of building wealth because a lot of women are brought up with the mindset of consuming wealth.”
HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
