The Lagos state government, on Wednesday, reiterated its commitment to women empowerment and financial inclusion in hard-to-reach communities in order to encourage them to be self-reliant.

Oreoluwa Finnih, the special adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on sustainable development goals (SDGs), gave the assurance in a statement made available to journalists.

Ms Finnih spoke on the Lagos state government’s commitment during an advocacy programme for over 100 women at Odomola in the Eredo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.

She advised women to engage in one business or the other to be financially independent.

She also called on them to imbibe a culture of savings. 

Ms Finnih said the advocacy programme, which was launched in partnership with Human Capital Development Africa, aimed to increase financial inclusion in hard-to-reach communities.

She said it was important to promote financial literacy among women as a strategy to empower them.

“Our advice to women is that they should make sure that they save. We want every woman to be able to fend for herself. We want women to be financially independent.

“We don’t want them to depend solely on any man. We don’t want to depend on other people, especially if we have children.

“We want to take care of our children and make sure that we have enough money to do whatever we want,” she said.

(NAN)