The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, says the Federal Government is ready to revive women’s businesses that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected.
Tallen disclosed this in Abuja during the virtual E-Launch of the National Survey on the impact of COVID-19 on women-owned businesses in Nigeria.
She said the survey report captured trends and patterns of the losses caused by the pandemic on women-owned businesses.
The minister said the report made recommendations in retooling policies to address both the immediate and post COVID-19 strategies as well as the way forward.
Tallen said the government had commenced the implementation through the ongoing UN Women Assisted Palliative Distribution Project in 17 states of the federation, targeted at poor women.
She said that the project would focus on women owned businesses in states as a measure to revive their businesses.
“I want to use this medium to assure our women entrepreneurs that we will continue to ensure that we build credible structures to help them revive their businesses.”
The minister expressed concern on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, particularly the supply chain, where majority of women’s owned businesses belonged.
“We are all currently experiencing the effects which have crippled the supply chain of businesses, with dire consequences on MSMEs where the majority of women-owned businesses are situated,” she said.
She said it was important to address gender gaps in designing COVID-19 response and recovery programmes as well as build strategic partnerships that would be protect women’s well-being and livelihoods.
She said the ministry would scale up some projects for women in the National Empowerment Fund, the Government Empowerment and Enterprise Programme and the Business Development Fund for Women. (NAN)
