Exclusion has face and it is female

This Women’s Month, we’re shedding light on the gender gap in financial inclusion and the gendered effects of poverty that make women more likely to be financially excluded than their male counterparts. According to The 2023 Access to Finance survey, 29% of Nigerians lack NINs, with marginalised groups, including women in rural areas, bearing the brunt of this exclusion. With the CBN directive as customers to link the NIN and BVN to bank accounts, women, already disproportionately excluded, are likely to suffer more. While there’s been progress, with 63.9% of women owning NINs in 2023, compared to 52.9% in 2020, the gap persists.