By Gargi Bagchi – Managing Editor, The African Gazette
Internationally women making a mark in the business and corporate sector across diverse industries conglomerates is not a new phenomenon. It is indeed heartening to see African women taking up leadership roles in the corporate space.
According to Francesca Uriri, the founder of Leading Ladies Africa -“Workplace advocacy specifically for African women and women of African descent makes up a huge part of our programmatic efforts and the work we do.”
The organization pushes for inclusion of women of African descent and African women in general in boardrooms and executive positions in organizations globally. Recently they have compiled a list of top 50 leading corporate women in Africa where the positions held by Nigerian women, especially in the banking sector is remarkable.
Women in Nigeria’s banking sector
The banking sector in Nigeria is certainly seeing an increase in recent times of appointments of women chief executive officers. There are six Nigerian banks currently with female managing directors. This comes after the news of appointment of Miriam Olusanya as the CEO of Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank on July 14, 2021. Miriam happens to be the first woman to hold the position since the bank’s inception in 1990.
On the same week, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) also made Yemisi Edun its managing director. On January 1, 2021, Fidelity Bank Plc appointed Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe as the CEO of the bank. Other women occupying leadership positions in the Nigerian banking sector include Tomi Somefun (Unity Bank), Halima Buba (SunTrust Bank) and Ireti Samuel-Ogbu (Citibank Nigeria).
Stakeholders and analysts are welcoming this development wholeheartedly and said it would positively impact the banking industry.
Nigerian Women in other sectors
In fact, Nigeria’s top companies have females, at least one in five on the board. Female representation on boards in Nigeria is higher in relation to the world average of 17%.
As much as the scene in the corporate space is encouraging for women in Nigeria, unfortunately women representation in politics is lagging behind. Gender equality bias is a reality as per reports from Gender Social Norms Index and women are excluded in participation from highest positions of decision making. One of the major setbacks for economic development happens to be the exclusion of women in politics.
Some contributory factors towards women being sidelined in political involvement include lack of funding for women’s groups, a high level of illiteracy as well as violence and general trend of subjugation of women prevailing in the country.
We have to wait and watch until Governments bring in effective empowerment programs for women in decision/law making areas, targeting grassroots levels women’s groups – thereby effectively encouraging females’ participation in politics in Nigeria.
Gargi – Currently Managing Editor of The African Gazette, she has been an independent content creator, researcher and editing professional. With 12+ years of experience across diverse writing genres, Gargi comes with an exposure of working with a multitude of global clients in the digital space. She has a penchant for reading and researching on new topics, and enjoys listening to music and traveling. She can be contacted through Email or Linkedin
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