Agency The ECOWAS Parliament has called on regional parliamentarians to step up efforts towards ensuring West African women’s financial inclusion and investments to promote female entrepreneurship and economic empowerment. Ibrahima spoke at the closing ceremony of the parliament’s Third Extraordinary Session and Second Parliamentary Seminar on Wednesday in Lome, Togo. She said that the parliament was committed to addressing the myriad challenges militating against West African women, who are represented by the ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that ECOFEPA had organised a symposium with the theme: “Financial Inclusion and Economic Empowerment of Women in ECOWAS subregion” to climax the event. According to Ibrahima, member states should ensure that women have access to the resources they need, such as bank accounts, loans and investment opportunities so they can realise their potential. “It is clear that women are change agents and they should be supported in the key role that they play if we want to speed up the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Our collective responsibility is therefore to ensure that financial inclusion of women is not limited to access to financial services, but we must ensure it becomes a fundamental human right and a pillar of economic equality. “Clearly the path to true financial inclusion and economic empowerment calls for concerted efforts of all members of the society to driv.