Abuja (WorldStage Newsonline)--The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Thursday in Abuja that it recovered over N6 billion for customers cheated by banks in 2012 as part of policy aimed at ensuring that customers’ interests are protected in the financial services sector.

CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said at the annual Isaac Moghalu Foundation (IMOF) Lecture and Symposium that the feat was achieved through various gender-related reforms carried out in the apex bank as part of commitment to ensure equal opportunities for all employees.

He said: "The Director of Consumer Protection has recovered over N6 billion in the last one year for customers that were cheated by banks she takes the sides of banks' customers even when I plead with her to be gentle with the banks, she is very ruthless."

In furtherance of the balanced gender agenda of the board, he said trainings had also been organised for 650 staff across the ranks up from the Governor down the line.

Sanusi criticised women at the top of their careers and those with political clout who use their positions for self-serving agenda by failing to initiate or support programmes that would help in alleviating poverty, particularly among the vulnerable grassroots women and girls, said the much desired women empowerment dream may not be realised if they failed to support the less-privileged others.

He discribed the current regime of credit policies in the financial services sector as gender biased, saying deliberate efforts must be taken to remove all policy barriers that inhibit women from accessing credit in order to make them contribute more to national economic development.

He said: "If you have a credit process that says that you need tangible collateral or landed property in a society where women do not generally hold titles to land you have already cut them off credit to women because men own the land and houses and for you (women) to even approach a bank for a loan is almost impossible."

Sanusi said CBN was impressing it on the banks to look at those credit policies that could promote better the financial inclusion of millions of women who are very productive but still excluded by the existing policies

On the issues of performance and reward, he posited that it was also wrong to promote men simply because they put in more hours at work whereas women have to go home by 5 pm to attend to their families and as result get by-passed for promotion often.

Canvassing the agenda of more women in leadership positions in the banking sector further, Sanusi insisted that the desire was to have a situation where women are unlimited from getting to the top of the boards so that they can support millions of women in the villages who don't have access to education, that die in childbirth, they have no access to primary healthcare and they have no jobs.

However, he noted that women were the problem of most other women as those who get to the top in their careers and political endeavours hardly ever think of helping others.

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