Mohammed Shosanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated the role of technology in ensuring that women get the right skills and knowledge in careers and business development.
Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, disclosed at the inaugural FITC Top Women in Tech list unveiled by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) as part of its International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration in Lagos.
She said the financial system is critical to addressing the gender divide, being the centre point for promoting integration and digital services.
Mrs. Ahmad spoke at the inaugural FITC Top Women in Tech list unveiled by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) as part of its International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration in Lagos.
Mrs. Ahmad, who was represented by Deputy Director, Other Financial Institutions Department, CBN, Mrs. Monsurat Vincent, noted that education could make it easier to promote equity.
“Technology, through the Internet, has made it easier than ever before for women to access educational resources and learn new skills. Women can now gain knowledge and expertise that may have once been out of their reach,” Mrs Ahmad, who is also the Chairman, FITC Board,she said.
She highlighted some of the significant efforts that were being made to close the gender gap, such as the national gender policy, which recommends a 35 per cent affirmative action for women, to ensure a more inclusive representation of women in elective and appointive positions, thus leading to recent significant strides in this regard, such as in the financial services sector, where at least eight women have emerged as CEOs of top financial institutions. One of the goals of this initiative is to increase the number of women in management positions.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria, as part of its women empowerment efforts, has also allocated 60 per cent of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) funds to women-owned enterprises and continues to develop guidelines to promote gender diversity and women’s access to economic opportunities,” she added.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, FITC, Ms. Chizor Malize, noted that the focus of the IWD for this year, which is #EmbracingEquity, and the theme themed DigitALL: Innovation and Technology as Enablers for Gender Equality were calls to have inclusive and transformative technology and digital education for women and girls.
She explained that the move was crucial for a sustainable future, as advancements in digital technology offer immense opportunities to address development and humanitarian challenges, and to close the inequality gap.
“Bringing women and other marginalised groups into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality,” Malize said.
She added: “The tech industry has come a long way in terms of gender equality, with several women making outstanding innovative and technological contributions that have impacted several industries, but there is still a lot of work to be done because women make up only 25 per cent of the tech industry and only five per cent of leadership positions in this industry are held by women.”