NAIROBI: The UN on Sunday urged African nations to close a gender gap that is costing an estimated $95 billion a year in lost economic potential. “Where there are high levels of gender inequality, societies are missing out,” UN Development Fund (UNDP) director Helen Clark told AFP. “They are not harnessing the full potential of women, and that costs economically, at the family level, community level and the national level.” Citing agriculture as an example, Clark said that in many African nations, women are banned from owning or inheriting land, making it hard for them to borrow money. “They then don’t have the finance to buy the best seeds, the best fertilisers. So women, despite working very, very hard, end up producing less, being less productive,” she said in Nairobi.