The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released a report revealing concerning statistics regarding women’s financial inclusion in the country. According to the data, a staggering 25 million adult Nigerian women remain unbanked, indicating a lack of access to formal financial services.
Additionally, more than 16 million rural women heavily rely on informal financial services, further highlighting the limited reach of formal banking channels.
The data also highlights a persistent gender gap in the enrollment for Bank Verification Number (BVN), a crucial identification system in Nigeria. Currently, there is a five per cent gender gap in BVN enrollment, emphasizing the disparity in access to formal financial services. Furthermore, it reveals a ten per cent gender gap in enrollment rates, suggesting a substantial difference in the participation of Nigerian women compared to men.
Apart from the CBN report, a recent survey by the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisor’s Gender Centre of Excellence showed that 98 per cent of women still lack access to formal credit markets.
Henrietta Bankole-Olusina, vice president of economic inclusion at the Rockefeller Centre of Excellence noted that “Men and women have similar rates of formal borrowing. On the surface, this may suggest that men and women face similar preferences and challenges in accessing credit. However, the large gender gap in account ownership suggests that men and women do have different financial behaviours.”
The value of loans for Nigerian women decreases after they reach the age of 45
One significant finding of the report is the decline in the value of loans borrowed by Nigerian women from formal institutions after the age of 45. In contrast to men who tend to have access to higher-value loans as they age, women experience a decrease in loan amounts. This trend indicates a potential lending discrepancy based on gender and age, with younger women having greater chances of obtaining larger, formal loans.
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This emphasizes the widening gender gap in financial inclusion in Nigeria, especially when compared to other African countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, which are making progress towards achieving gender parity in financial access. Nigeria’s relative gender gap currently stands at eight per cent, placing it below its peers in terms of inclusivity.
Bunmi Lawson, the managing director of EdFin Microfinance Bank, emphasized the urgent need to drive financial and economic inclusion in Nigeria, especially among women.
She noted that “there is so much that can be done with financially excluded women. However, I believe that the starting point is to meet them where they are, constantly engage them in ways they prefer and understand and reduce the barriers they face including opening an account or even accessing loans.”
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Aside from commercial banks, women in Nigeria also rely on other formal financial institutions to meet their financial needs. The EFInA A2F survey reveals that six per cent of women use these alternative formal institutions, while 15 per cent depend on informal Financial Service Providers (FSPs). When combined, these figures suggest an exclusion rate of 40 per cent among women, compared to a male exclusion rate of 32 per cent, resulting in an eight per cent gender gap.
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