Northern Nigerian Women Face Stark Financial Exclusion, Report Reveals

A recent report from the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies at Bayero University, Kano, supported by the Gates Foundation, should serve as a wake-up call for every northern governor. The study, ‘Understanding Influence and Behaviour in Northern Nigeria,’ reveals a stark reality: 38 percent of women across the region are completely excluded from financial services. This means nearly four in every ten women in a region comprising 19 states have no access to a bank account, mobile money wallet, insurance, or microfinance facility. They exist entirely outside the formal financial system, a situation that is an indictment in a country that professes to champion inclusive growth.

The financial exclusion of northern women is not merely an inconvenience; it is a profound governance failure with tangible consequences. A woman who cannot save cannot plan for her future. A woman who cannot access credit is confined to subsistence-level trade, unable to grow her enterprise. A woman without insurance lives one illness away from destitution. While the report indicates that 52 percent of northern women are financially served, only 45 percent access formal services through institutions like deposit money banks, merchant banks, interest-free banks, and microfinance institutions. The remainder rely on informal arrangements or have nothing at all.

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economic empowerment must go beyond token gestures, the kind of one-off cash handouts that politicians distribute during campaigns and promptly forget about. Sustainable development requires equipping women and youths with market-driven skills.

This situation is particularly alarming given the region's socio-economic context. According to the same report, unemployment stands at 37 percent, and poverty levels average around 80 percent, with Sokoto State recording the highest rate. As Ismael Zango, the principal investigator, rightly points out, economic empowerment must transcend token gestures like the one-off cash handouts politicians distribute during campaigns and then forget. Sustainable development requires equipping women and youths with market-driven skills. He highlights existing successful models, such as women-led groundnut processing cooperatives in Kebbi State and the Women in Agriculture programme in Kano, which are waiting for the institutional support that consistently fails to materialize.

While the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) set ambitious targets in its Framework for Advancing Women’s Financial Inclusion launched in 2020, and the gender gap in mobile money account ownership has narrowed nationally, aggregate statistics can be misleading. The reality on the ground remains grim, especially for rural northern women. The mobile money gender gap in rural Nigeria stands at 35 percent, compared to 16 percent in urban areas. Progress celebrated at conferences in Abuja often bypasses these communities. Moreover, deeply ingrained social norms continue to restrict women’s mobility, their ability to obtain identification documents, and even their ownership of mobile phones. Any intervention that ignores these fundamental realities is built on shaky ground. Foyinsolami Akinjayeju, CEO of Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement, rightly described financial inclusion as both a moral and an economic necessity. We wholeheartedly agree. Every northern woman locked out of the formal financial system represents a missed opportunity for individual empowerment and national progress.

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financial inclusion as both a moral and an economic necessity.