5th WenA Conference: FG pledges reforms to boost women-owned businesses, inclusive growth

By: Michael Mike

The Presidency has lauded the invaluable contributions of Nigerian women and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to national development, describing them as the lifeblood of the country’s economy.

Speaking at the 5th Women Enterprise Alliance (WenA) Conference held in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation in the Digital Economy, Ms. Chayla Shagaya, reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to strengthening the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs through targeted reforms that reduce the cost of doing business, expand access to finance, and promote gender-responsive policies for inclusive economic growth.

Themed “Policy Reforms and Resilience Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises in a New Economy,” the conference brought together key policymakers, development partners, financiers, and entrepreneurs from across Nigeria.

Shagaya noted that under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, women-led SMEs remain “the quiet economists of every household” and a central pillar of Nigeria’s economic resilience.

She said d: “Across Nigeria, women entrepreneurs are doing the hard work of keeping our economy alive — innovating, employing, and solving local problems with global relevance. About 70 per cent of public submissions on SME policy reforms came from women.”

She highlighted ongoing government reforms such as the Presidential Power Initiative, digital financing pathways, and tax harmonisation frameworks, all aimed at lowering operational costs for SMEs, most of which are women-led.

She further revealed partnerships between the Bank of Industry and other financial institutions aimed at improving access to affordable credit for female entrepreneurs, who often face challenges related to collateral.

“You no longer need to bring your grandmother’s land title to secure a loan,” she added humorously.

According to her, a digital feedback call recently hosted by her office received over 100,000 submissions, with more than 70 per cent coming from women business owners.

“This is no longer a time for policy on paper; it is time for policy that reaches people where they are — especially the women at the heart of our enterprise sector,” she affirmed.

In her address, the Founder of WenA, Aisha Babangida, described the conference as a platform to accelerate the translation of national and global policy commitments into measurable outcomes for women-led enterprises.

She underscored the need for continuous advocacy, lamenting that many women still lack access to information, capital, and markets, and are often constrained by rigid and complex regulatory frameworks.

She said: “When I founded WenA, I thought passion was enough. But it wasn’t. The paperwork, the tax codes, the licensing rules — these were heavy even for those of us with networks. Imagine what it’s like for a woman starting a micro-business in a rural town with little support.”

Babangida commended UN Women Nigeria for its Affirmative Action Procurement Reform Initiative in Kaduna State, which has introduced female representation on procurement boards, waived registration fees, and reserved a portion of public contracts for women-led enterprises.

“Inclusive procurement is not a concession to women; it is an economic strategy,” she emphasised.

She announced that WenA will soon launch a National Certification Programme to help women entrepreneurs qualify for public contracts through enhanced documentation, compliance, and capacity building.

She disclosed that: “Our goal is not to highlight problems but to unlock solutions. Today, we move from policy talk to practical tools — from exclusion to empowerment,” Babangida declared.

During the pre-conference policy workshop, Ms Aisha Bendo-Alkali of UN Women Nigeria highlighted the urgent need to address unpaid care work, a significant barrier limiting women’s participation in the economy.

Supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), the initiative promotes care-responsive policies and the integration of women’s economic empowerment into national planning.

“Reducing the burden of unpaid care is not just a gender equality goal — it is essential to unlocking national productivity,” she said, calling for the scale-up of inclusive procurement policies nationwide.

In his goodwill address, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr Zach Adedeji, unveiled key fiscal reforms designed to ease tax burdens on small businesses, especially those run by women.

He announced that, effective January 2026, businesses earning not more than ₦100 million in annual turnover will be exempted from corporate income tax — a measure he described as “a deliberate strategy to incentivise growth, not penalise enterprise.”

“Taxation should support the formalisation and scaling of small businesses — not stifle them,” he stated.

Adedeji also revealed the introduction of a Unified Tax Identification Number (UTIN), integrated across the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), FIRS, and other agencies to simplify compliance for SMEs.

He added that the FIRS is transitioning to fully digital tax filing and correspondence systems, eliminating paper-based bureaucracy.

The 5th WenA Conference attracted participation from senior government officials, development agencies, private sector leaders, and entrepreneurs — all reaffirming the central role of women in driving inclusive growth, job creation, and national resilience.

In her closing remarks, Aisha Babangida emphasised that real reform must be measured by tangible impact, not policy statements.

She said: “A real reform is when a woman in Kaduna, Aba, or Makurdi feels the change in her daily hustle — when she can register her business in minutes, access capital without fear, and supply to the government without discrimination.”

The event, supported by FIRS, FCMB, and UN Women, concluded with a collective pledge to advance a gender-inclusive economic framework that leaves no woman behind.

“Empowering women entrepreneurs is not charity,” Ms Shagaya asserted. “It is a national strategy — and the path to building a resilient and inclusive Nigerian economy.”

5th WenA Conference: FG pledges reforms to boost women-owned businesses, inclusive growth

Several Mopol, three local security operatives, killed by bandits in deadly ambush in Tsafe, Zamfara

By: Zagazola Makama

Armed bandits on Wednesday launched multiple attacks in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, killing three local security operatives and ambushing a team of Mobile Police (MOPOL) officers near Tsafe town.

Zagazola Makama gathered from sources, that the incident occurred early Wednesday morning when members of the Askarawa security outfit and their counterparts from the Yan Maiduguri group were on their way to Sungawa village for a rescue operation.

The operatives reportedly ran into an ambush laid by armed bandits, leading to a fierce exchange of gunfire. Three members of the team were killed on the spot, two from the Askarawa unit and one from the Yan Maiduguri group.

Those who lost their lives were identified as Sani Lawali (popularly known as Danjinjiri) and Garba Sarkin Arna, both from the Askarawa vigilante, and Umar Mustapha, a member of the Yan Maiduguri team.

One other operative, Umar Usman of the Yan Maiduguri, was declared missing after the attack. Search efforts are ongoing to locate him.

The Yan Maiduguri security group was recently engaged by the Executive Chairman of Tsafe Local Government Council, Hon. Garba Shehu Fancher, to work alongside the Askarawa in strengthening community-based security and protecting rural communities from bandit incursions.

In a related development, Eight Mobile Police (MOPOL) officers were reportedly ambushed by bandits near Mulasa Poultry Farm, Gidan Giye about one kilometre from Tsafe town. Six Mopol were reportedly killed while two were hospitalized with various degrees of injuries.

Troops of Operation FANSAN YANMA have since mobilized reinforcements to the affected areas, while investigations and coordinated search operations are ongoing to track down the attackers.

Several Mopol, three local security operatives, killed by bandits in deadly ambush in Tsafe, Zamfara

Aisha Babangida and the African Rural Woman

…celebrating International Day for Rural Women

By Edwin Uhara

Therefore, the challenges facing African Rural Women necessitated the celebration of Aisha Babangida’s efforts in giving rural women a voice and access through many of her NGOs. Still, because this piece is about the International Day of Rural Women, I limited the scope of this article to the Better Life Program for the African Rural Woman for what they are doing silently.

There is no better time to appreciate the humanitarian gestures of Aisha Babangida, a woman who has been silently transforming the lives of people around her than using the occasion of this year’s International Day for the Rural Women; a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness on the status of women and to shed more lights on the inequalities women still face as well as advocate for their recognition and participation in decision-making and demanding stronger social protection systems that reduces the digital divide they face in this century.

Accordingly, the works of Aisha Babangida have become even more pronounced as we mark the 30th anniversary of the famous Beijing Women’s Conference of 1995 this year.
And in line with this year’s theme, “Rural Women Sustaining Nature for our Collective Future,” Aisha Babangida, through the Better Life Program for African Rural Women, has been shaping the lives of rural women by equipping them with relevant skills through training and empowerment.

However, the empowerment of the Better Life Program differs from other empowerment programs, which often employ a general template that overlooks the specific needs of each state or zone. In contrast, the Better Life empowerment program is tailored to state-to-state and region-to-region priorities, based on a SWOT analysis.

Hence, before deciding on the type of training and empowerment to be offered to a particular region, the Better Life Program will first of all get the baseline data and analyse it to ascertain the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the zone before coming forth with an empowerment Program that suits the zone while capitalising on the comparative advantage the region already has.

In other words, their focus is on building on the strengths and opportunities of each state or region. For example, a state with a strong foundation in groundnut production, such as Kano, would be leveraged by training its women and girls in modern groundnut production techniques and empowering them on that basis, so as to add value to themselves and create value chains.

The reason is that the template that works in Kano State will likely not work in Enugu State, because apart from comparative advantage and market availability, topographical differences are also a factor.
All these factors are considered by the Better Life Program before rolling out its programs, and this has helped ensure that empowerment reaches the people who need it most.

Similarly, empowering women is not only a right but also a potent force for alleviating poverty, hunger, diseases and reducing the effects of global warming.
According to a UN report, “Women are responsible for half of the world’s food production while working as environmental and biodiversity stewards.”

Even then, there are still challenges facing rural women globally. The UN report further stated that, “Women and girls in rural areas suffer disproportionately from multi-dimensional poverty.”

“They may be as productive and enterprising as their male counterparts but are less able to access land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets, and high-value agrifood chains and obtain lower prices for their crops.”

The report added that “Women and girls in rural areas lack equal access to productive resources and assets, public services, such as education and health care, and infrastructure, including water and sanitation, while much of their labour remains invisible and unpaid.”
In the same vein, the report added that ‘If women had the same access to productive resources as men, farm yields could increase by 20–30 per cent, feeding an additional 100 to 150 million people.”

Based on the foregoing, empowering our women is no longer a choice but a necessity.
Therefore, the challenges facing African Rural Women necessitated the celebration of Aisha Babangida’s efforts in giving rural women a voice and access through many of her NGOs. Still, because this piece is about the International Day of Rural Women, I limited the scope of this article to the Better Life Program for the African Rural Woman for what they are doing silently.
While I encourage Aisha Babangida to continue her good work for humanity, I also appeal to public-spirited individuals to support this good cause for the sake of the common humanity we share.
Happy International Day for Rural Women!

Comrade Edwin Uhara is a UN-trained Negotiator and writes from Abuja

Aisha Babangida and the African Rural Woman