Women Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and relevant stakeholders gathered in Lagos to form a coalition aimed at advancing women’s economic empowerment, addressing the gender disparity in access to economic opportunities in Nigeria.
Leading women CEOs and representatives of women’s associations, including WISCAR, WIMBIZ, ANWBN, AWE, AWP, WACCIMA, JONAPED, and others participated in the strategic meeting. The Director General of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Fatai Onafowote, also attended and reiterated Lagos State’s commitment to improving women’s access to public procurement.
The coalition’s primary goal is to improve the lives of women and girls by advocating for better implementation of economic policies that enhance women’s access to public and private procurement, as well as income-generating opportunities. Despite Nigeria having one of the highest numbers of female entrepreneurs globally, women-owned businesses often do not secure procurement contracts, highlighting systematic gender disparities in both government and private sector procurement systems.
There is a consensus on the positive correlation between gender equality and a country’s socio-economic environment, prompting calls for incentives to ensure equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs and their male counterparts. One suggested measure is preferential treatment for marginalized groups in the procurement of goods and services.
UN Women is supporting this effort under the project “Women’s Economic Empowerment through Affirmative Procurement Reform in West and Central Africa,” funded by the African Development Bank and Women’s Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (WeFi). The project aims to improve women’s economic empowerment by enhancing opportunities for women-led businesses to access public procurement and corporate supply chains. It is designed to create an enabling environment for women to work and be financially independent, and to enhance government officials’ capacities to formulate and implement gender-responsive policies. These policies are crucial for sustainable development, enabling women and girls to participate fully in and benefit equally from socioeconomic opportunities and addressing underlying causes of vulnerability, including gender inequality.
As part of UN Women’s coordination mandate and the project’s exit strategy, the coalition will work with existing state institutions to push for the approval of state policies, monitor government interventions, and promote the economic rights of women entrepreneurs in the state. The coalition will also advocate for the domestication of available legal frameworks that support women’s economic empowerment. It aims to act as a key connector between government and businesses, fostering an enabling environment for civil society organizations, democracy, and citizen participation.
Ms. Beatrice Eyong, UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, represented by Chukwuemeka Onyimadu, Women’s Economic Empowerment Specialist for UN Women, stated, “According to the National Policy on Women’s Economic Empowerment, 30% of all public procurement opportunities should be reserved for women-owned and women-led businesses,” she said.
However, this target has not been realized due to socio-economic challenges.