Lagos, Nigeria – Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Nigerian Exchange Group have renewed calls for deeper gender inclusion in the capital market, with Minister of Women Affairs Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim saying women must be fully integrated into the financial system for the country to achieve its 1 trillion dollar economy target.
Okay News reports that the minister made the remarks during a strategic visit to Nigerian Exchange Group that ended with a ceremonial closing gong on March 24, 2026, where policymakers and market leaders stressed that persistent barriers limiting women’s access to finance and capital markets need coordinated policy and market action to be dismantled.
Nigerian Exchange Group Chairman Umaru Kwairanga said women are central to Nigeria’s economic transformation and noted that the capital market offers a key platform for mobilising long term funding for women led enterprises, while Securities and Exchange Commission Director General Emomotimi Agama warned that current female participation levels fall short of their share of the population and economic potential.
Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigerian Exchange Group Temi Popoola added that innovation in products and digital platforms is critical to lowering entry barriers and expanding access for women and underserved groups, and stakeholders at the event agreed that expanding women’s access to capital would support wealth creation, business growth and economic resilience.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim framed gender inclusion as an economic necessity rather than a social gesture, arguing that Nigeria cannot reach a 1 trillion dollar economy without unlocking women’s capacity through targeted interventions, better financial literacy and wider access to funding and investment opportunities, especially given women’s large contribution to productivity in the informal sector.
She said strategic partnerships between government, regulators and the private sector are needed to embed gender responsive policies across the financial ecosystem, and the event brought together public and private stakeholders who reaffirmed gender inclusion as a core pillar of Nigeria’s development agenda.
Momentum around women’s access to the capital market has been building, with recent Nigerian Exchange Group events featuring figures such as Bianca Ojukwu and Imo State First Lady Chioma Uzodimma, who called for stronger policy backing and financial literacy programmes to help women invest and raise capital more easily.
Officials say these efforts align with wider government plans to put women led businesses at the heart of industrial expansion, non oil exports and Africa Continental Free Trade Area opportunities, positioning women as key drivers of wealth creation and long term economic expansion in Nigeria.
