The World Bank’s Women, Business, and Law (WBL) 2020 index which measures the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity show that Nigeria scores 63.1 out of 100. This is lower than the sub-Saharan Africa regional average of 71 and the same score as the previous year.1 Nigeria’s performance varies across the several legal indicators including laws addressing the constraints to freedom of movement (50), women’s decision to work (75), women’s pay (50), women’s work after marriage (100), women’s work after having children (0), constraints on women starting and running a business (75), gender differences in property and inheritance (80), and affecting the size of a woman’s pension (75). Improvements in opportunities that accrue to women are underpinned by cultural and social shifts that close gender bias not only in the economy, but also in society and politics. To spur these shifts, the media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) should promote gender equal narratives, while the private sector and government should redesign policies to create more and better opportunities for women.
March 16, 2021
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 9)
Related
Africa Economic Update (Issue 1)
Sub-Saharan Africa experienced its worst economic
performance in over two decades in 2016, with growth slowing to 1.5 percent.
The poor performance in South Africa and oil exporting countries is responsible
for attenuating regional growth rate, due to their high collective contribution
to regional GDP, despite robust performance in non-resource intensive countries.
Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to slightly improve in 2017 (2.9
percent) and further strengthen in 2018 (3.6 percent). At the sub-regional
level, growth prospect is estimated to be highest in West Africa (4.78
percent), attributable to 5.93 percent growth rate from West African Monetary
Union (WAEMU) Countries. East Africa is expected to grow at 4.5 percent,
Southern Africa 3 percent, and Central Africa 2 percent. Agricultural exporting
countries are projected to grow at around 7 percent, while oil producing
countries are estimated to grow at 1.9 percent, which indicates a recovery from
the negative growth recorded in 2016.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 35)
Nigeria's Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.55 percent in 2017Q21, compared to the -0.91 percent (revised) in 2017Q1 indicating the first quarterly positive growth rate since 2016Q1 and an evidenced exit from five quarters of economic recession. The acceleration in real GDP in 2017Q2 reflects the significant increase in oil sector GDP from -11.64 percent in 2017Q1, to 1.64 percent in 2017Q2 a 13.3 percentage points Quarter-on-Quarter increase. However, Non-oil GDP moderated by 0.3 percentage points to 0.45 percent. Despite the recent favorable economic performance, growth prospect remains fragile.