ABUJA- No fewer than 35 women in the FCT are being trained by the First Lady Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) through her Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI).
The women were drawn from Nyanya, Galadimawa, Lugbe, Kubwa, Karu, Games Village, and the Central Area in the FCT.
The one-week training programme, which opened on Monday, was organised by the RHI in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme is being held at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) in Kubwa, Abuja.
Sen. Oluremi, represented by her Senior Special Adviser on Policy and Strategy, Mr Wahab Alawiye-King, advised the participants to utilise the training for their economic development.
She said empowerment of women through digital literacy offers them a wide range of opportunities to fit in and thrive as functional members of the society.
According to the first lady, participants will be given starter packs which include a laptop and N75, 000 cash at the end of the programme to enable them practice what they had learnt.
She said it would also assist those already in business to project their businesses to the public, while adding value to the society.
In his remarks, the NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Abdullahi, said the training was apt as NITDA target was to achieve 95 per cent digital literacy in Nigeria by 2030.
Abdullahi was represented by Dr Aristotle Onumo, the Director, Cooperate Planning and Strategy in NITDA.
He said the collaboration with RHI was strategic as it was geared toward the realisation of the agency’s mandate of having more women as ICT experts.
Blessing Ighalo, one of the participants, told NAN that as a job seeker and a school drop-out, the training would change her narrative, adding with the laptop, I will be able to meet my online clients in my Abaya, shoe and bag business.”
NAN reports that the RHI focuses on five key pillars of intervention namely; agriculture, education, health, socio-investment and economic empowerment.
The training according to the organisers would be replicated in other parts of the country. (NAN)
