Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has received the Leadership and Inclusion Award at The Business Day Women in Leadership Summit in Lagos. The event, themed "Give To Gain: Power, Purpose and the Economics of Inclusive Leadership," was held in partnership with Brooks and Blake and The Conversationalists. Organisers praised Sani for treating gender inclusion as economic strategy rather than symbolism, noting Kaduna's shift from performative policies to systemic integration of women in governance.
Sani's administration has framed women's exclusion as both a social injustice and economic inefficiency. Mrs Patience Fakai, Commissioner of Business, Innovation and Technology, accepted the award on his behalf, calling the summit's theme central to sustainable development. The governor stated that inclusion is a guiding principle, not a slogan, and cited human capital development, institutional reform, and economic empowerment as key pillars.
Kaduna has expanded education access with policies targeting girl-child enrolment and retention. The Arewa Ladies-4-Tech initiative, in collaboration with Data Science Nigeria, trained over 5,000 women and girls in AI and digital skills, with many securing international remote jobs. A N5 billion Women Economic Empowerment Fund was included in the 2025 budget. An Executive Order in 2024 enabled two million underserved people, mostly women, to access banking and social interventions. The KD-IVTSD has established three campuses across senatorial districts to boost vocational training.
Uba Sani is positioning inclusion as a fiscal tool, not just a moral stance, by linking women's participation directly to economic output. The Arewa Ladies-4-Tech programme and N5 billion fund suggest a shift from rhetoric to measurable investment. For Nigerians, this means that if replicated, such policies could expand the national tax base through women's formal employment. Whether other states adopt this model depends on whether they see women as assets or afterthoughts.
