NITDA starts ICT capacity building for South West women

In pursuit of a renewed thrust for leveraging the Digital Economy for National Economic Development, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)  has started the South West Zonal Women ICT Training and Empowerment programme at the Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti.

The essence of the capacity building programme, according to NITDA is to close the existing Gender Digital Divide in Nigeria, promote job creation, financial inclusion and providing women with the necessary skills and tools to participate in the digital economy.

Making a remark at the kick-off of the 5-day programme, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, disclosed that the programme is part of the Agency’s continuous efforts aimed at implementing the administration’s key priorities of economic diversification, job creation, investing in the Nigerian people and achieving gender balance in economic opportunities.

“Unequivocally, women clearly have unequal access to economic opportunities in comparison to men, NITDA believed that technology can bridge the gap. The 100 women being trained are projected to create 300 direct jobs and over 1000 indirect jobs,” the DG, who was represented by Dr. Vincent Olatunji, Director eGovernment Development and Regulation Department at NITDA said.

women ICT empowerReferring to statistics, Olatunji disclosed that women’s participation in ICT is less than 24 percent. Thus, NITDA is determined to bridge the gap through special training programme for women in addition to the usual ICT capacity development activities of which both men and women are given equal opportunities.

Key objectives of the capacity building ICT programme, include boosting digital literacy, creating digital jobs, bridging the digital divide, promoting digital inclusion and using technology to address the gender imbalance in economic opportunities.

Meanwhile, the wife of Ekiti State governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, who was at the programme, disclosed that the Ekiti State government had been passionate about gender promotion, particularly women empowerment and promulgation of laws that can tackle socio-cultural and economic impediments against women.

“Technology has a lot of benefit and women in the developing nations have a large proportion of illiteracy in the digital world. This programme can make women active in the world of ICT and enable equal access to innovative ICT concepts, ” she said.