Minister: Women need to be empowered financially – skills not enough

Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye,  minister of women affairs and social development, says skill acquisition without financial empowerment for women cannot be put to good use.

The minister spoke on Friday at a stakeholders meeting where she unveiled the ministry’s mandate and action plan for women’s empowerment.

She said it is not enough to have skill acquisition programmes for women and girls without financial assistance to help them kick-start their dreams.

“Individuals and development partners should not just train women in skills acquisition without providing funding to enable these women to put into use the skills they have acquired,” the minister said.

“We have had enough training for women in Nigeria. There are millions of women with skills but they do not have the financial wherewithal to actualise their dreams.”

She advised development partners to set aside some of the funds meant for training to empower the women financially.

Speaking at the event, Gabriel Aduda, permanent secretary of the ministry of women affairs, said “financial empowerment will enable women to have sustainable livelihoods”.

“Many of the women lack the collateral to obtain loans from commercial banks,” he said.

Onyinye Ndubuisi, a gender and human rights analyst at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said gender-based violence “can be tackled through financial empowerment of women and girls”.