In its attempt to bridge the gender digital divide and promote digital literacy and skills amongst the womenfolk, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commenced a five-day women training program dubbed “Women ICT Techprenuership.”
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 the requisite skills needed to make them employers of labour thereby creating jobs and wealth in the country.
NITDA’s representative, Mr Segun Folayan, with the e-Government Development and Regulations department who was on the 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,” adding that anyone person trained in ICT amounts to the 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 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 the gender line.
While encouraging the trainees to pay more attention to every detail, Hon Alawiye emphasized that the world we live in today is run by ICT and the acquisition of ICT skills has become imperative and expressed optimism that the outcome of the training would be impactful and beneficial to the trainees.
The Women ICT Techprenureship Training Program is an intervention program of NITDA to empower women of all ages with digital literacy skills 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 purposes, Spreadsheet Management skills for analytical skills and other necessary skills needed for setting up Multimedia Presentations.
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.
