LAGOS – Mrs Oreoluwa Somolu, the Executive Director, the Women’s Technology and Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), has advised young girls and women to acquire training in Information Communication Technology (ICT).
Mrs Somolu gave the advise in Lagos on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
She advised young girls to show real determination to excel in the sector at the early stages of their life.
The executive director, who said women have huge potential in information technology, advised them not to abandon the field for men to dominate.
“A lot of girls feel that IT is not an area that is particularly welcoming for women and girls so they do not consider a career in such field.
“Most times when one introduces himself as a programmer or someone that runs a technology company, it is usually a man and that puts the idea in their mind that it is an area meant for men,” she said.
Somolu said that a research conducted had shown that girls and boys do have interest in IT at an early stage but that girls lose interest as teenagers.
She urged girls to seek out role models who work in technology areas or use information technology to do their businesses in a more efficient and comfortable way.
NAN reports that W.TEC is a Nigerian non-governmental organisation working to empower girls and women socially and economically, using information and communication technologies (ICTs). (NAN)