By Chimezie Godfrey
In its attempt to bridge the gender digital divide and promote digital literacy and skills amongst the women folk, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commenced a five day women training program dubbed “Women ICT Techpreneurship”.
The training which is an intervention of NITDA to help in the national vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians from the poverty rung has 60 women in attendance and is expected to empower them with requisite skills needed to make them employers of labour thereby creating jobs and wealth in the country.
NITDA’s representative, Mr Segun Folayan, of the e-Government Development and Regulations department who was on ground to coordinate the training admonished the beneficiaries to ensure that knowledge acquired in the course of the training is beneficial to them in particular and the nation in general.
He stated that ‘transfer of knowledge to others who are close to them would ensure a multiplier effect of the intention of the organizer”
He added that any one person trained in ICT amounts to training of about four persons which corroborates the popular belief that if you train a woman, you train a nation.
He advised the participants to make the training a worthwhile.
A representative of Senator Oluremi Tinubu whose senatorial district hosts the event, Hon Wahab Alawiye Kings eulogised the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami and the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, for their unrelenting effort in bridging the digital divide across gender line.
While encouraging the trainees to pay more attention to every details, Alawiye emphasized that the world we live in today is run by ICT and acquisition of ICT skill has become imperative.
He expressed optimism that the outcome of the training would be impactful and beneficial to the trainees.
“Women ICT Techpreneurship Training Program is an intervention program of NITDA to empower women of all ages with digital literacy skill to promote digital inclusion.
“It is also a major strategy in implementing the Digital Literacy pillar of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy as well as NITDA’s Strategic Road Map (2021-2024).
“The week-long training program seeks to empower participants with Word Processing skills for documentation purpose, Spreadsheet Management skill for analytical skill and other necessary skills needed for setting up Multimedia Presentations,” he explained.
He added that the beneficiaries would also be empowered with internet surfing and social media marketing skills in addition to provision of IT tools such as laptops and internet dongles for them to start their businesses.
