Stakeholders urge inclusivity ahead of gender summit as fiscal losses rise

As Nigeria gets set to host a mega gender summit, stakeholders have insisted that unless men, women and the vulnerable are involved, attaining gender parity could be a mirage.

Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Economic Summit (NESG), Laoye Jaiyeola, made this known at a pre-summit media briefing organised by NESG, in partnership with Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) in Abuja, yesterday.

Jaiyeola said although Nigeria remains one of the largest economies in Africa, gender inequality gaps, across all facets of the economy, have continued to impede financial growth, leading to financial losses per person.

According to him, “data shows that on a per capita basis, gender inequality in earnings could lead to a wealth loss of $23,620 per person globally, with an estimated global loss of about $160.2 trillion in human capital wealth.”

“$26 billion of this (estimated loss) could be recovered if Nigeria is able to close her existing gender inequality gap.”

He explained that the summit is against the backdrop of Nigeria’s low ranking on the global gender inequality index.

Jaiyeola said: “According to the World Economic Forum 2021, Nigeria ranks 139 of 149 countries on the global gender index ranking.”

Deputy Director, PIC, Dr. Osasuyi Dirisu, observed that gender inequality not only affects women but also men and people with disabilities, whenever they are discriminated against or marginalised in terms of job opportunities, political or public office considerations and economic opportunities.