The governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has outlined how to remove crushing poverty from the North.
Sanusi told a gathering of local entrepreneurs in Kano that inclusion of women, who account for the majority of the population of the entire region in economic activities, remains the shortest way out of the quagmire.
The Kano born, CBN governor lamented that women had been schemed out of economic activities for selfish reasons, adding that there had to be attitudinal change for the region and its people to make progress.
“Poverty reduction in the north would certainly remain an illusion so long we continue to deny women their rightful role in the economic processes by guaranteeing adequate empowerment like we have seen in our recent history”, Sanusi stressed.
He reminded the audience that his late grandmother sold groundnut oil as part of her contribution to the economic development of her environment, pointing out the need for men to reconsider outright ban of women in commercial ventures.
The CBN governor, who delivered a paper, entitled, ‘Kick starting engine for job creation and economic growth’, queried the menfolk saying, “why can’t we allow our wives to be engaged in one form of trade or the other while they are at home instead of keeping them as permanent housewives to the detriment of the economy?”
Lamido, whose submission received thunderous ovation, added:
It is not in our culture to make our housewives redundant, we saw in our recent history, how our fathers actively involved their women in all the operations of farming activities most especially the finishing line.
“It is far better for our wives to earn their living by engaging herself in one form of business activities so that they can also be employers of labour and contribute to the economy”.
Sanusi tasks northern governors to evolve a centralised empowerment policy that would guarantee women equal access to economic pursuit, maintaing that “inclusion of these neglected group would certainly kick start the economy and kick out poverty from the region” .
In a speech earlier, Chairman, Kano State Government Entrepreneurs Support Committee, Mohammed Jammu Yusuf, stated that the committee was set to develop an entrepreneurship that would engage residents on deepening entrepreneurs’ skills.
