Female entrepreneurs have called on the governments at all levels to provide more funding for them to ensure industrial development.
President of the Nigerian Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE), Chief Vera Ndanusa who stated this, urged the governments at all levels to ensure that the girl-child was also included in economic policies as a means of facilitating young entrepreneurs.
She said this during her inauguration as the President of the association in Abuja on Tuesday.
Ndanusa pledged to promote policies that would lift women out of poverty by mentoring them on entrepreneurship.
She said the association will promote entrepreneurial activities of women and strive to transform it from the informal to the formal sector of the nation’s economy.
“I also call on Financial Institutions and credit groups to be women-friendly in their lending to the sector, considering the role women play in food security,” she added.
Ndanusa lamented that women were not given a chance in the country to officially own land because they (women) do not usually inherit land culturally.
She stated that the current Land Use Act was affecting women participation in agric-business.
“The government and international agencies should tailor their programmes to encourage the empowerment of women in sustainable agriculture while financial institutions should be women-friendly in their lending considering women’s role in food security.
“When it comes to farming, women in Nigeria are mostly subsistence farmers; now that we have made a decision on agriculture, the first thing is to assess lands and funds that will empower small scale farmers,” she said.
