Report Lists Lack of Trust Among 5 Reasons Only 3 in 10 Women Own Bank Accounts in Nigeria

• Only three in 10 Nigerian women aged 15-49 have bank accounts, as per the 2022 MICS report by NBS
• Reasons for low bank account ownership include limited access, high costs, unstable incomes and unemployment
• Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System shows that there are over 190 million bank accounts in Nigeria

The National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that only three in 10 women between the ages of 15-49 own a bank account.

NBS disclosed this in a global Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) report available on its website.

According to the report, 38,806 women were surveyed for the report, out of which 64.6% (25,085) did not have bank accounts.

It indicated that only 35% of Nigerian women in the report owned bank accounts.

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The percentage of women with bank accounts was 11.8% points lower than the percentage of men with bank accounts, which stood at 47.2%.

The survey also highlighted the financial exclusion of women in Northern Nigeria and young people as two key groups mostly excluded from the financial system.

States with the highest women with no bank accounts

The NBS report also provided a breakdown of the states with the highest percentage of women without bank accounts.

• Kano: 5.7%
• Katsina: 3.8%
• Bauchi: 3.2%
• Kaduna: 3.1%
• Jigawa: 2.6%
• Niger: 2.6%

Women's reasons for not having bank accounts

The report also identified the reasons women captured in the survey gave for not owning a bank account.

Here is a list of reasons identified:

• Unavailability of banks in their locality
• High cost of reaching the nearest bank
• Unstable incomes
• Unemployment or job loss
• Lack of trust in banks
• Religious reasons
• Time-consuming documentation processes
• Perceived lack of benefit in having a bank account
• Other unspecified reasons

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Equity fund focused on women start-ups

Legit.ng has reported that Alitheia IDF, an African women private equity fund, has announced a $100 million investment fund to help women entrepreneurs and businesses that impact women.

In a statement published on its website, Alitheia said the fund is looking to bridge the financing gap for women-led or owned businesses in Africa.

The funds will specifically target businesses situated in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Zambia.

Source: Legit.ng