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By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
Nigerian Women in Information Technology (NIWIIT) has stressed the importance of empowering the womenfolk with digital skills.
The chief executive officer of MainOne and keynote speaker at the 10th anniversary celebration and seventh national conference of the body, Mrs. Funke Opeke, made this call in Lagos. She stated that NIWIIT was set to train more girls and women across Nigeria in digital skills, through its digital empowerment initiative.
At the two-day event, themed “Unleashing innovations: scaling up digital skills for women and girls,” Opeke said technology remains a key driver in increasing access to education as the world evolves.
The empowerment initiative, which is a training and mentorship programme, was designed to offer basic and intermediate digital skills for females across the country.
She disclosed that, at the end of the training, the beneficiaries would be equipped with digital skills in the areas of digital marketing, e-commerce, data analytics and graphic design, among other skills that would enable them have access to gainful employment within and outside Nigeria.
Lowering the digital gender divide in Nigeria has become a matter of urgency, according to a report by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It recognizes that the gender divide significantly hampers the ability of digital technology to help women improve their lives, the stability of their families and the resilience of their communities.
USAID’s report shows that over 90 per cent of jobs worldwide have a digital component and, without these skills, women are automatically disadvantaged and do not have the confidence to participate in the digital workforce.
“Ultimately, the goal is to close the digital gender gap that is causing unemployment/underemployment of women and girls especially for the underserved and vulnerable in our communities,” the CEO said.
Opeke stated that women are a blessed generation, with inherent capacity to advance the course of development, especially when they have access to computing technologies.
“Technology is a great enabler for all categories of children, especially with the increasing access to mobile phones in Nigeria,.
“Also, females have abilities to navigate the new communication devices with different functions on all social media platforms, like computers, phones, tablets, iPhones android, bluetooth and others,” she said.
Opeke urged all stakeholders, including government, to rise to the occasion by embracing technology, describing it as a veritable tool to address various challenges plaguing the country.
The national president of NIWIIT, Mrs. Dele Bayo-Osibo, said digital skill aims to address youth employment, with a strong focus on empowering girls.
She added that participants would receive job-related trainings on data entry, digital accounting, graphic-design, web-design, and other digital skills. In her words, some 230 million jobs across the continent would require some level of digital skills by 2030.
Osibo called for deliberate solutions to improve women’s participation in everyday life by meaningfully changing the ways women and girls access and use technology.
“Unemployment is caused by several different factors, one of which is the large gap between what students are learning and what the job market is seeking. Globally, more than 70 per cent of children have never attended secondary school.
“We now have more places where practical, job-related skills are generally acquired. Young people need more than basic Mathematics and reading skills to attract employers.
“These challenges are felt more acutely by the vulnerable. In fact, children and adolescents from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to lack digital skills, which are a requirement for many jobs. And girls are even more disadvantaged.
“Across the world, unemployment rates among females are significantly higher than males. There are many reasons for this imbalance.
“The initiative’s blended format offers those living in rural areas that ordinarily would not be able to access quality technical and vocational education,” Osibo said.
Also, president Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Prof. Adesina Sodiya said they have been promoting digital skills in tertiary institutions and IT development centres across the country, stating that IT professionals was over 20,000 and are in every sector.
Sodiya commemorated with NIWIIT for reaching another milestone that would position them for more impactful achievement.
Also part of the event was a panel of discussion where a spectrum of the IT gurus, industry and government spoke extensively on the conference theme.
