The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said that women will occupy 40 per cent of the top management positions in the nation’s banks by 2014. Sanusi spoke on at the Murtala Mohammed Foundation 2012 Policy Dialogue in Lagos. The theme of the dialogue was the “Roadmap for Change and Nigeria’s Economic Development.” The governor said that the target would be achieved through the women empowerment initiative, which the bank launched on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said that the initiative would not only be for female bankers, but would also enable women entrepreneurs to have access to subsidised loans from the banks. According to him, 2012 has already been declared as the year of women empowerment. Sanusi said that the CBN would continue to ensure that the banking industry had value change managers to create the necessary conditions for easy access to loans by all sectors of the economy. He said that it was not late to return to the past when there was less dependence on the proceeds from crude oil.
The governor said that before independence, Nigeria earned almost 30 per cent of her Gross Domestic Products (GDP) from the non-oil sectors and created jobs for the citizens. The Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Capital, Mrs Yvonne Fasinro, said that the reform in the banking sector had reduced Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) to nine per cent. She said that this was a good development for the nation’s economy. Fasinro advised the banks to reduce their NPLs to five per cent, adding that in advanced countries, the NPLs usually stood between one and five per cent
