Obiano's wife seek women empowerment

The wife of the Governor of Anambra State, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano has called for the adoption of a pan-African approach to women empowerment to boost their financial standing.

Mrs. Obiano who is the founder of Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFÉ) an NGO, made the call in a paper titled, 'From Exclusion to Inclusion: Country Level Initiatives Towards Financial Inclusion, A Nigerian Perspective,' presented at the 4th Gender Equality for Sustainable Development Conference which held last week in Kenya.

Represented by the Commissioner for Social Welfare, Children and Women Affairs, Dr. Victoria Chikwelu, and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Hon EmekaOzumba said though there might be minor differences, cultural barriers to financial inclusion are largely the same across Africa.

"There is no doubt from country statistics that women are the most financially excluded because they have to overcome the barriers of income inequality, distance to location of financial services, financial illiteracy, high cost of services and other cumbersome requirements," she said.

But from my experiences, interactions and interventions with the rural poor, in Anambra State, Nigeria, financial inclusion means something different, an opportunity to earn an income before banking it."