YMonitor Issue 008: No Woman, No Growth

by Eyo Emmanuel

Unless you live under a rock with no phone and WiFi then it’s no news that Nigeria’s economy in recent times has gone under with the World Poverty Clock estimating that ninety million Nigerians are living in extreme poverty.

Now this doesn’t have to be our future if only the Nigerian government would take the initiative and make the labor force more inclusive for women. The Council For Foreign Relations and the Foreign Policy’s Program new digital report estimates that Nigeria’s GDP could grow to 23 percent which is about 229 billion dollars by 2025 if more women would be included in participating in the economy.

With these statistics, the obvious smart choice would be to work towards integrating more women into the work force. Now the real question lies in if the government is willing to take strides in the right direction in order for our economy to grow? Or are we going to sit back and do nothing while the average Nigerian lives on less than a dollar a day.