The United Kingdom government is partnering with the Cybersafe Foundation to skill some 2,400 girls and young women in Nigeria on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) under the Digi-Girls initiative in the next six months, reports ITREALMS.
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| middle: British High Commissioner, Mrs. Laing with Cybersafe founder, Mrs Mrs Confidence Staveley flanked by guests at Digi-Girls |
Disclosing these on Wednesday at the Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka-Yaba in Lagos, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs. Catriona Laing said improving girls’ access to education is a key part of the UK’s G7 Presidency and the heart of global efforts to build back better from the pandemic.
She also said that over the next six months, the Digi-Girls programme will provide basic and intermediate digital skills training to 2,400 vulnerable women and girls which will include mentorship, internship placements and entrepreneurship opportunities.
Mrs Laing said the programme will equally contribute to addressing the digital inequality in Nigeria that currently holds a 15 per cent gender gap against women.
The UK supports to Nigeria, she said in its bold ambition to create 100m jobs in 10 years and we believe that the digital economy could play a major part in unlocking.
"The United Kingdom (UK) is working with individuals, companies and governments to maintain Cyber security in Nigeria," Mrs. Laing said, stressing the need for young girls and women in leveraging ICT to protect themselves from online crime and capacity development .
In her opening speech, the founder of Cybersafe, Mrs. Confidence Staveley, quote the words of British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson "Across the world there is a vast untapped resource – girls whose education has been cut short or denied altogether, who could be leading efforts to pull their communities out of poverty.”
She also said that at Cybersafe Foundation, they could not agree more with him, and would continue to work to ensure inclusive and safe digital access across Africa.
“We are super excited to be implementing the Digi-Girls Project, enabled by the commitment and funding from the UK Government,” she declared.
She stressed the importance that lowering the digital gender divide in Nigeria has become a matter of urgency, and cited recent USAID report, which showed 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.
According to her, Lagos and Kaduna have the largest number of youths within the targeted group for the digital skills, affirming that Digi-Girls target is 2,400 women to get intermediate skills in e-commerce, e-marketing, data and analytic skills, graphics design to name but a few.
A beneficiary and a mother of four who doubles as an educationist, Mrs Victoria Edozie expressed her initial fear of being ICT compliant due to the environmental constraints which has been overcome within the three weeks of her joining the training expected to end next February.
*Gbemi Omotosho/Editor
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