ABUJA – Huawei Technologies, a leading global ICT solutions provider, has trained 1,000 girls, according to Mrs Omobola Johnson, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology.
Omobola, who made this known during an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja, said that the initiative, which is in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications Technology, would bridge the existing gap between women and men in ICT.
She also said that the programme would stem the tide of unfilled IT vacancies.
“Women have the capacity to perform just as well as men so our scope should not be limited.
“There is need for more women to be in ICT in order to cut down the gap; statistics show that only about 32 per cent of girls are into ICT.
“This programme and other programmes involving girls and women are focused on bringing more women into ICT so that even unemployment in this area will be tackled as there will be more skilled hands.’’
The minister advised the trainees to make the most of the opportunity and urged them to sensitise others about the importance of ICT and its impact so that they would get interested.
The minister also used the opportunity to urge other companies in the ICT sector to partner government so that more girls could be trained.
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According to her, if 10 companies like Samsung and others each train 1,000 girls like Huawei, about 10,000 girls would have been empowered at the end of each programme.
A member of the management team of Huawei who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the company’s collaboration with government was the company’s way of giving back to the country.
“We are fulfilling our corporate social responsibility to the country and not only that, through this programme, we also get the human resources we need.’’
Some of the trainees, who spoke pledged to utilise the skills gathered for their good and the development of the country.
One trainee, Miss Bridget Kalu, a graduate of accountancy, said she would want to go further after the training to learn more about ICT in security systems.
The initiative is one of the gender programmes initiated by the ministry, to build technical and job-ready ICT skills among unemployed youths.
NAN reports 200 of the most promising girls would receive further training and certification as Data Centre Operators. (NAN)[eap_ad_3]
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