The Domain Name System Women (DNS WomenNG) Foundation in Nigeria, and the country chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-NG) at the weekend collaborated in commemoration of this year’s International Girls in ICT Day, reports ITREALMS.
A press statement available to ITREALMS quoted Mrs Nweke in her message to the occasion as saying that its always a thing of joy to use this international occasion to highlight some of the innovative achievements by women especially in Information Communications and Technologies (ICT).
She pointed out that looking at the theme for this year: “Leadership: Over a decade ago,” there is no doubt that women and girls have advanced in the DNS industry.
She cited the emergence of Mrs Ibukun Odusote as the first-ever chairperson of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA); the .NG registry.
Odusote role, for instance, she said, cannot be over-emphasised in nurturing the DNS industry in Nigeria, especially having served as the pioneer secretary of NIRA Board of Trustees in the past decade.
Mrs. Nweke, who was until recently a member of the Executive Board of Directors (EBoD) at NIRA, noted she followed the footstep of the likes of Mrs. Mary Uduma and Mrs. Yemisi Johnson on EBoD, event though Mrs. Uduma later became the first female NIRA president, with the sudden demise of its founding president, late Engr. Ndukwe Kalu, while not forgotten the pioneer female BoT member of NIRA, Mrs. Ufuoma Daro and later Prof Nike Osofisan, who doubled as first female president of the Computer Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) among others.
Still within the DNS industry, Mrs. Nweke recalled that Mrs Edith Udeagu was the first female Chief Operating Officer of NIRA and only Executive Secretary of NIRA so far. Udeagu, she recollected, handed over to Mrs. Eyitayo Iyortim as COO of the registry.
Additionally, Mrs Nweke noted that in the past decade, Nigeria has had two female Federal Ministers of Communications and Communications Technology respectively, namely the late Prof. (Mrs) Dora Akunyili and Dr. (Mrs) Omobola Johnson in that order.
The role of Mrs. Abimbola Alale who was the first former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NigcomSAT, just as Mrs Nkechi Jane Egerton-Idehen, was appointed towards the last quarter of 2023, the Managing Director/CEO of NIGCOMSAT Ltd and Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote equally appointed as Managing Director/CEO, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) within the same period, stood out as encouragement for women and Girls in ICT.
These women, Mrs. Nweke said, have gathered varied experiences cutting across information technology, telecommunications, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
In addition, Mrs Nweke noted that none of these can go far nowadays without Internet Protocol (IP) addresses which is a set of standards for addressing and routing data on the Internet, whilst Domain Name System (DNS) has been acclaimed industry-wide as the phonebook of the Internet, basically because for humans to access information online there must be domain names to go through.
While advocating for increase in women in leadership within the ICT sector and DNS industry specifically, DNS WomenNG president, Mrs. Nweke called for collaboration among stakeholders to deepen relationship in breaking the barriers in the technology world.
Uj. N. Dominic/Editor
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