By Peter Osalor

According to the last official Nigerian census in 2006, women comprised almost half of the then 140 million populace at 68.3 million. Updated figures for 2009 put the headcount in Africa’s most populous, as well most densely populated nation, at 148 million . Allowing for applicable variables, it would be logical to assume that the female population has grown correspondingly in the period, were it not for another set of disturbing statistics.

In 2008, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reported that 52,000 Nigerian women were dying annually due to pregnancy and child_birth related complications. In more comprehensible terms, the number translates to 145 women per day.

Population is a critical asset for any nation, with far_reaching social, political and economic consequences. In Nigeria, it also happens to be a controversial issue because of regional, inter_state and ethnic ramifications. Its dwindling female population however has consequences that go much beyond the immediately obvious effect of a rapidly skewing sex ratio.

Nigeria has ambitious rapid development plans to take it to the top twenty world economies by 2020. The eventual success of this endeavour is inextricably linked to entrepreneurial performance, as well as to the management of its womenfolk who comprises close to half its total human resource.

Although there are dissenting voices on the subject, it is widely accepted that women in Nigeria are systematically discriminated against, harassed and abused at home and work, and suffer violent crimes and unequal treatment both within their homes and outside. Deep_set regressive and repressive practices have led to unabated misery for Nigerian women in various forms: social inferiority, economic disempowerment, denial of access to property and inheritance, sexual abuse, trafficking and proliferation of HIV/AIDS.

A 2000 World Bank study titled ‘Can Africa Claim the 21 Century’ sets forth two fundamental premises that hold especially true for Nigeria :

“    Gender inequality is both an economic and a social issue.
“    Greater gender equality could be a potent force for accelerated poverty reduction in Africa.

Given the acute poverty situation in Nigeria _ where close to 76 million are officially classified as poor and 54% of the citizenry live on less than $1 per day _ women’s empowerment and their worthwhile inclusion in the development processes is key to sustainable growth.

The country has huge oil and natural gas reserves that have earned it an estimated $600 billion in the past half a century. However, successive decades of political turmoil and government mismanagement have rendered the vast majority of its people destitute, and left facing multifarious problems arising out of unequal wealth distribution and an extreme divide between rich and poor. Illiteracy, unemployment, rampant crime and organised violence are just a few of the outcomes of this unfortunate situation.

The impact of Nigeria’s history has been particularly severe on its women, leading many to take up traditional, village_level enterprises to eke out a meagre subsistence and supplement family income. The motivation here, importantly, is basic survival _ food, clothes, household needs _ and not wealth creation.

Faced with often insurmountable circumstantial challenges, individual and groups of women entrepreneurs have traditionally held on to extremely small scale ventures in the manufacturing and services sectors, largely without any organisational support or guidance.

Curiously, this sad state of affairs is simultaneously an attribute that offers policy makers a substantial if dormant advantage. By virtue of their involvement in cottage and village level enterprises, Nigerian women are already an active entrepreneurial group with uncharted economic and human resource potential. To perhaps overtly simplify, all they need is a policy_level nudge in the right direction to help them capitalise on their accrued talents to bring about exhaustive development across the battered landscape of their country.

The fate of both Nigeria’s 2020 target and Millennium Development Goals hinges substantially on its ability to drive an entrepreneurial revolution that suitably develops and taps the latent abilities of its massive female population. The following are 7 creative proposals that could make it happen:

I.    Introducing legal reforms to ensure equal rights of women to ownership, inheritance and financial control; with a view to reinforcing their special skills and advantages and leveraging them for immediate and long_term macro_economic gains, at both local and national levels.

II.    Reprioritising budgetary outlays and official expenditure models with the specific objective of improving gender equality, through the introduction of special schemes and programmes that effectively encourage women’s involvement in entrepreneurial activities.

III.    Enforcing equitable gender participation through the development of focussed entrepreneurial activity for women that takes their socio_cultural, legal and economic constraints into account. Policy changes must be initiated to overcome hurdles in the gainful involvement of women in viable enterprises.

IV.    Initiating government incentive programmes for existing and emerging enterprises that proactively involve women in different hierarchies. Educating present and future entrepreneurs on the unique business and social advantages they stand to derive from this dynamic group.

V.    Facilitating partnerships between women and financial, advisory and support agencies; in a way that compensates for their lack of formal business acumen, experience and access to funding. Fostering partnerships between women entrepreneurs in related sectors to help share expertise and resources.

VI.    Instituting effective start_up and ongoing support structures with safety net provisions to provide continuous financial, technical and know_how assistance and minimise failure rates. Ensuring ground level efficacy of such measure through continuous monitoring and survey.

VII.    Enhancing accountability on women empowerment issues at both state and federal government levels through unbiased assessment of executive agencies and relevant state_sponsored programmes. Suitably highlighting achievements and deficiencies to enable constructive evolution of such practices.

In terms of subjective ground reality, these suggestions are by no means definitive or exhaustive; however, they do hold up the broad framework that any substantial policy redirection must incorporate in order to achieve the sustainable and accelerated economic growth Abuja has projected. Localised adaptation is necessary for each guideline in order to suitably address historical and regional imperatives.

Further, there is a considerable amount of introspection and groundwork that must be undertaken before these parameters can be put in place. Basic human development initiatives, especially those related to easy and universal access to healthcare and modern education, are paramount.

Nigeria has inherited a broad spectrum of fundamental deficiencies concerning infrastructure, logistics and power that have to be sufficiently addressed beforehand. There are additional and considerable risks attending to policy changes that have to be both acknowledged and anticipated.

For the purpose of encouragement, what Nigerian leaders and policy makers would perhaps do well to take heart in is an old aphorism: one that says you invest in the entire community when you invest in women!