The Katsina State Government said its collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has led to the training and empowerment of 500 vulnerable women selected from across the 34 Local Government Areas of the state with start-up capitals to enhance their petty trading businesses. The State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Rabiatu Mohammed, who made the above disclosure to newsmen at Government House, Katsina, while unveiling the State Government’s scorecard under her Ministry, said the vulnerable women were trained in different entrepreneurial skills. She said: “The state government in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the North-West Entrepreneurship Development Centre (NEDC) has trained and empowered 500 women across the 34 local government areas of the state.
‘’The state government was concerned about increasing women’s access to financial services from their economic backwardness and enhance job creation as well as poverty reduction. ‘’The effort is also to ensure that effective and sufficient business opportunities thrive in the state.’’ The Commissioner further noted that in spite of the low amount the state receives from the federation account, Governor Aminu Bello Masari’s government had given premium attention to the empowerment of women and youths irrespective of their political affiliations.
She called for greater participation of women in elective positions at state and national levels to ensure gender mainstreaming for the sustainable development of Nigerian women. According to her, women formed a greater percentage of the voting population in the state, hence the need for stakeholders to involve them in decision-making processes.