Nigeria Ready To Unlock Women’s Productive Potential — Minister

The federal government has expressed Nigeria’s readiness to lead the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) through creating a strong, viable, productive and competitive economy, unlocking the productive potential of women-led enterprises at a larger scale and ensuring inclusion, access to capital.

Ministers and other stakeholders gave this indication at a colloquium in honour of women’s role in industry, trade and investment held at the National Assembly Library Complex in Abuja on Friday.

In her remarks, the minister of industry, trade and investment, Dr Jumuoke Oduwole, said as Nigerians speak about industrialisation and intra-African trade, they must confront the powerful truth of harnessing women’s immense potentials and utilise them optimally.

She said, “The African Continental Free Trade Area is no longer a conceptual aspiration. It is operational architecture: a $3.4 trillion market of 1.4 billion people, representing the largest free trade area in the world by number of participating countries. But let us be clear: markets do not create prosperity. Production does, trade agreements do not industrialise nations, competitive enterprises do.

“Nigeria’s ambition under AfCFTA is not to be a passive consumer market. It is to become a production hub; manufacturing, processing, innovating and exporting at scale. Today, manufacturing contributes approximately 13–14% to Nigeria’s GDP. In industrialised economies, that figure is closer to 20–25%.

“The gap is not merely statistical. It represents unrealised factories, unrealised exports, and unrealised jobs. Closing that gap is the mandate of our new Nigeria Industrial Policy.

“Women already dominate large segments of Nigeria’s real economy. Across retail, textiles and garments, agribusiness processing, nutrition systems, and light manufacturing, women-led MSMEs are deeply embedded in value chains. There are over 8 million women-led MSMEs in Nigeria generating over $15 billion in annual revenue.

“They account for over 40% of MSMEs employment, yet receive less than 20% of formal MSMEs financing. Over 90% operate informally. Fewer than 15% access structured digital training.”

The minister lamented that less than 5% of the women have formal governance systems which affects the way they conduct their affairs in business governance.

“This is not a capability problem, it is a structural design problem. We have mentorship without capital. Finance without readiness. Markets without compliance support,” she added.

Head of the Civil Service of the federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack said, the colloquium was convened to emphasise the vital role of women in industry, trade, and investment, and promote the conversation on positioning Nigeria as a leading force in intra-African trade.

“Nigeria’s ability to lead intra-African trade will depend not only on policy frameworks and trade facilitation mechanisms, but also on the empowerment of capable and visionary actors within the economy,” she said.