By Lucy Ogalue
Some stakeholders have reiterated an urgent need for collaborative action to address poverty and promote gender equity in the country.
The stakeholders spoke at the Gender and Inclusion Summit 2024 (GS-24), convened by the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), on Wednesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summit aims to highlight possible ways Nigeria can address growing poverty in the country.
The summit scheduled for Sept. 4 to Sept. 5, has as its theme: “Reimagining gender inclusive pathways and partnerships for poverty reduction.”
The Chairman of the NESG, Mr Olaniyi Yusuf, expressed the commitment of the NESG to transforming Nigeria’s socio-economic landscape through impactful reforms and inclusive development.
Yusuf said that the PIC, since its inauguration, had remained a pioneering force for behavioral insights and gender-transformative approach in Africa.
According to him, the summit, institutionalised annually since 2022, serves as a crucial platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration.
He said this year’s theme brought to view the pressing issue of multidimensional poverty, which disproportionately affected women and had continued to impede the nation’s progress.
He said that the aim was to create solutions that can directly lead to the reduction of inequality and deprivations that have stifled progress for far too long.
” Together, I believe we aspire to forge a path towards a more just, equitable and a prosperous society where every individual can thrive and can contribute to our shared prosperity.
“We need to design and implement solutions that will allow our women and every citizen to take their rightful place in our society so that our dear nation can finally realise its potential.
“Therefore, I welcome you all at this summit and enjoin you to make the most of the opportunity.
“We will work together and collaborate to reimagine gender inclusive pathways and partnerships for poverty reduction,” he said.
Earlier, the PIC Chairman, Mr Udeme Ufot , restated the importance of ensuring solutions to the disparities and inclusivity in Nigeria.
“By uniting collective power of government, development partners, civil societies, academia, the private sector, and citizens, we aim to inspire collective commitment and focus action towards the agenda inclusive society.
“The 2nd edition focuses on the theme, building bridges, advancing gender and inclusion through the intersection of trade and health.
“This year, we are placing significant emphasis on the issues surrounding multidimensional poverty as Africa is home to a significant proportion of the world’s poorest and marginalised population,” he said.
According to Ufot, poverty remains widespread, with a large segment of the population living below the 2.15 dollars per day.
“Therefore, addressing these challenges and rectifying a variety of approaches to combat poverty and inequality is crucial.
“Ending poverty and reducing inequality are critical to the attainment of the sustainable development goals,” he said.
He restated the commitment of the PIC to ensuring that every idea and recommendation from the summit was documented in a purple book to facilitate sustained advocacy for the summit.
Meanwhile , the Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mrs Greta Bull, emphasised the need to improve women’s ability to generate and manage their own income.
Bull said that across the world, poverty still wore a woman’s face.
“This is especially true in Nigeria where, according to the World Bank, 70 per cent of the population living below the poverty line are women.
” There are more than twice as many Nigerian women living in poverty than men, and still, women have lesser access to the skills, tools and resources that would help close this gap.
“The reality is that Nigeria can not reach its true potential when women and girls lack economic opportunity.
“Unfortunately, programmes and policies that support women’s economic opportunity are often deprioritised, particularly when hard tradeoffs have to be made,” she said.
Bull said that women empowerment was crucial for economic growth.
She said that women should be seen as economic actors rather than charity cases.
She said that womenshould be provided with access to affordable credit, markets, labor enhancing assets and digital tools among others to address this challenge.
“Nigeria will only build sustainable economic opportunities for women by building a platform for them to stand on.
“And by uprooting gender blind systems and replanting them with ones that truly prioritise and support women to thrive through Nigeria’s experience and the experience of peer countries, ” she said.
NAN