Women’s Savings Scheme Generates N10.9bn In Funds

Dr Hadiza Maina, National project Coordinator of Nigeria for women program says the Nigeria for Women Program Scale-Up (NFWP-SU), has mobilized ₦10.982 billion thru members’ savings to strengthen women-led community institutions.

The development is a route to enhance economic opportunities, financial inclusion and resilience for women.

Maina made the comments at the 26th National Council on Women Affairs, Child Advancement and Social Development in Jalingo, Taraba State, in a presentation titled “Nigeria for Women Scale-up: The Transforming Potential of Women Collectives.”

The program is being coordinated under the leadership of the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim.

The presentation described NFWP as a strategic long-term partnership between the Nigerian Government and the World Bank, aimed at institutionalizing Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) and other platforms for women economic empowerment.

She said “the over 60 per cent multidimensional poverty of Nigerian women is associated with limited access to factors of production.

NFWP is institutionalizing this existing practice, “turning informal savings into a scalable engine for national economic growth,” says Dr Maina.

She said the pilot phase implemented from 2018 to 2024 in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba States, created WAGs thru voluntary individual self-selection, providing structured platforms for women to access finance and improve mutual support.

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Under the Scale-Up phase, the program targets over 10 million Nigerian women by 2028, across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

According to Dr. Maina, 66,928 Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) have been established with 1,482,459 women actively participating as direct beneficiaries, and approximately ₦62.4 million in Community Investment Fund grants have been distributed to 142 WAGs in Ekiti State.

NFWP-SU has also facilitated the opening of bank accounts and National Identification Number (NIN) enrollment for over 60 per cent women beneficiaries.

She identified WAGs as platforms to enhance women’s voice, agency and resilience, and to improve access to finance, markets and productive opportunities.

NFWP-SU’s three components support community institutions, livelihoods collectives and project management, monitoring, evaluation and learning.

The Community Investment Fund provides seed capital for micro-investment plans and Livelihoods Collectives aggregate WAG members for value-chain development, market access and business growth.

But in her presentation, she acknowledged challenges in implementation including differences in the pace of implementation, differences in States readiness, data-quality and timeliness concerns, diverse community contexts and security risks.

“Adaptive implementation is key,” Maina emphasized, noting structural and cultural differences between states and communities that required tailoring delivery approaches, timelines, and messaging to local realities.

Forecasting, she said the “programme is prioritizing digital financial services and fintech partnerships, development of a self-sustaining Community Investment Fund, deeper social and behavior change programming and integration of climate resilience, WASH and reproductive health into the economic model.”

Dr Maina called for a strategic shift “from reaching women to strengthening women-led institutions,” noting that “collective action is the pathway to sustainable economic empowerment and resilience for millions of Nigerian women.”