By Palma Ileye
Ministry of Women Affairs has concluded plans for capacity training programs for Nigerian women on digital skills in collaboration with a private organization, GetBundi Educational Foundation as part of measures to close the gap on gender exclusives as well as to hone up the skills of women on contemporary global trends on digital solutions and applications.
This collaboration is contained in a press release issued by Ohaeri Osondu Joseph, Special Assistant, Media to the Minister of Women Affairs.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by representatives from GetBundi Foundation, the Minister of Women Affairs, Barr Uju Kennedy Ohanenye expressed her delight with the partnership which according to her will provide a cutting edge on digital application and other computer-based solutions to upscaling information.
“It will provide our women and young girls with cutting edge on digital application and other computer-based solutions that will put them at par with their contemporaries in other climes.
“The global community is moving at a very fast pace and the Ministry thought it ideal to organize training on digital skills for our women to upscale their knowledge on computer application and information communication technology. The interesting aspect of the proposed collaboration is that aside from organizing the program free for the women, it will be followed up by empowering the participants with start-up kits that will not only enhance their capacity of digital solutions but will encourage them to start their own businesses.
“We are very optimistic that this initiative will open up new vistas of opportunities for our women to veer into special areas of human endeavor that will acquaint them with prerequisite knowledge and skills to cope with contemporary global trends in ICT.”
Kennedy Ohanenye also added that the training has been designed to have 300 participants between the ages of 18 and 40 years, drawn from across the six geo-political zones as a pilot project which will be scaled up subsequently to have more participants.
This initiative she said will further boost the drive to close the gap on gender inclusiveness.
Responding, the Executive Secretary of GetBundi Foundation, Dr. Obiamaka Agbakoba stated that the GetBundi was a hybrid digital skills education technology platform designed to deliver high quality, engaging and accessible digital courses to individuals across Africa.
Speaking further, she said that the tech industry was no doubt a male-dominated career across the globe at the moment and Africa was no exception adding that, “Research reveals that only 30 percent of African women make up the tech industry, which signifies that women are highly under represented.”
She also expressed her concerns that despite the overwhelming percentage of women in the African continent, available data reveals that only very few are in the digital and technological space compared to men, with women in the tech space making up only 22 percent of the industry workforce in Nigeria.
According to her, “We believe that with conducive platforms, Nigerian women can learn and lead commercial innovations but this female digital exclusion, a situation where women are disproportionately left behind in accessing and using digital technologies and services, is a pervasive problem hindering the realization of fully inclusive digital future and we need to bridge this gap.”
