Gov Sani Bags Women In Leadership Summit Award

Business Day Women in Leadership Summit has honoured Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State with its Leadership and Inclusion Award, for prioritising  inclusion as economic wisdom and not an act of charity.

The ceremony which was attended by government officials, captains of industry and  women professionals,  was organised in partnership with Brooks  and Blake, and The Conversationalists in Lagos.

The theme of this year’s summit was ‘’Give To Gain: Power, Purpose and the Economics of Inclusive Leadership.’’

The summit noted that ‘’Governor Uba Sani has adopted a visionary approach to governance that views gender inclusion not as a mere rhetoric but a vital driver of economic change.

‘’In a country where gender policies are often limited to symbolic gestures, Kaduna now stands out as a pioneering example of what can happen when inclusion is integrated into the core mechanics of governance,’’ the summit  noted.

According to the organisers, ‘’what sets Governor Sani apart from his peers is a clarity of vision that is both principled and pragmatic. His administration has boldly declared that women’s exclusion is not only a social injustice, it is a structural economic inefficiency that costs Kaduna dearly.’’

Receiving the award on behalf of the Governor, the Commissioner of Business,  Innovation and Technology, Patience Fakai, noted that the summit’s theme ‘’speaks directly to the heart of sustainable development in our society today.’’

‘’It reminds us that leadership is not merely about authority, but about responsibility—the responsibility to create systems that are fair, inclusive, and empowering for all,’’ he added.

Governor Sani reiterated that  his administration ‘’has embraced inclusion not as a slogan, but as a guiding principle for policy design and implementation.

‘’We firmly believe that no society can achieve lasting peace or economic prosperity if significant segments of its population, women and young people, are excluded from opportunities,’’ he said.

The Governor added, ‘’This belief has informed our strategic focus on human capital development, institutional reform, and economic empowerment.’’

He said that Kaduna State has continued  to expand access to education ‘’while improving quality, with deliberate policies aimed at increasing enrolment and retention of the girl child.’’

The governor stated that his administration believes that educating a woman is not just a social good, but  an economic imperative.

‘’Our Arewa Ladies-4-Tech in collaboration with Data Science Nigeria, for instance, where we trained over 5000 women and girls in AI and digital skills,  is a programme we are proud of.

‘’Through it, a good number of these women have secured remote jobs internationally through which they support themselves and their families,’’ he disclosed.

The Governor noted that his administration has also established a N5 billion Women Economic Empowerment Fund in the 2025 budget  to support women entrepreneurs.

According to him, his Government’s  Financial Inclusion Programme brought two  million underserved persons, largely women, into the banking system to access social intervention programmes, using an Executive Order in 2024.

Governor Sani also disclosed that his government’s  “A Kori Talauchi” poverty reduction scheme has  supported nearly 4,900 women with livelihood packages.’’