Former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and spiritual leader of the Tijjaniya group, Muhammad Sanusi II, has urged Nigerian banks to adopt gender quotas that guarantee women greater participation in the financial sector.
Speaking at the Gender Impact Investment Summit in Lagos, Sanusi said banks should not hire new staff unless at least half of the recruits are women. He further recommended that 40 percent of senior management positions and 30 percent of board seats be reserved for women.
The summit, themed “Investing in Equity: Advancing Gender-Led Solutions for Inclusive Development”, highlighted the urgent need to build a financial system where women are not sidelined from leadership and decision-making.
Sanusi recalled his time as CBN governor from 2009 to 2014, when he deliberately changed promotion policies to create room for qualified women to move up faster. He explained that before his reforms, only four women had risen to director level in over five decades. By reducing the number of years required for promotion from deputy director to director, he helped produce nine female directors in just one year.
That policy shift, he noted, laid the foundation for the rise of nine female bank chief executives in Nigeria today. Sanusi also cited the “Year of Women in Banking” initiative he introduced in 2012 as another milestone that helped break barriers for women in the industry.
He pointed to Rwanda and Liberia as examples where intentional policies have dramatically increased female representation, urging Nigeria’s financial sector to set the standard for Africa.
Beyond quotas, Sanusi asked regulators such as the CBN and the Securities and Exchange Commission to demand more transparency from banks. He suggested that publishing data on loans to female-led businesses would allow the public and investors to identify institutions truly committed to gender inclusion.
“Banks may not be forced to lend to women, but once their records are made public, market pressure will naturally compel them to do better,” he said.
He also called for broader workplace reforms that support inclusion, such as wheelchair-accessible branches, extended maternity leave, and flexible work policies. But he warned that cultural and institutional resistance, particularly in northern Nigeria, continues to deprive women of control over assets like farmland, even when inherited.
“Inclusion is not about exclusion it is about fairness,” Sanusi emphasized.
The event also saw the unveiling of the Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Roadmap 2025–2035 by the Impact Investors Foundation in collaboration with PwC Nigeria. The roadmap aims to mobilize $8 billion in inclusive capital, introduce 40 gender-focused financial products, and drive at least 20 policy reforms by 2035.
Etemore Glover, Chief Executive of the Impact Investors Foundation, described it as a bold blueprint for reshaping Nigeria’s economic future, while Chairman Frank Aigbogun noted that removing systemic barriers for women, youth, and people with disabilities would unlock vast untapped opportunities and drive equitable growth.
