Former central bank governor and Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II on Thursday called for deliberate reforms to dismantle barriers preventing Nigerian women from fully participating in politics, business and leadership.
Speaking at the 3rd Gender Impact Investment Summit in Lagos, Sanusi said advancing gender equity was “not a matter of charity but of common sense,” urging constitutional and financial sector reforms to guarantee women stronger representation.
“We have 109 senators and only four are women. How do you pass laws that protect women when their voices are barely heard?” Sanusi asked. He suggested reserving one senatorial district per state for women on a rotational basis and mandating gender quotas in cabinet appointments.
Sanusi, who headed the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009 to 2014, recalled that only four women had reached director level at the bank before his tenure. He said reforms introduced during his leadership helped raise female representation, leading to women heading critical departments including banking supervision and risk management.
Those changes, he added, influenced the wider banking sector and culminated in the “Year of Women in Banking” initiative in 2012, after which nine banks were led by female chief executives.
Sanusi also urged regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Insurance Commission to require financial institutions to publish gender-disaggregated data on lending and staffing, saying transparency would improve accountability in support of women-led enterprises.
Cultural barriers must also be addressed, he said, noting that in agriculture women often lose economic benefits despite inheriting land. “The solutions must be tailored to the specific cultural and social contexts of communities. What works in Maiduguri may not work in Warri,” he added.
Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Geoffrey, said the government was committed to ensuring women were not excluded from shaping the country’s economic future.
Frank Aigbogun, chair of the Impact Investors Foundation, praised a newly launched 10-year roadmap targeting $8 billion in gender-inclusive capital to close financing gaps for women, youth and persons with disabilities.