By Stellamaris Ashinze
Lagos – The leading telecommunication giant, Globacom Nigeria, says it will continue to support women empowerment and Small Medium Enterprise as well as digital transformation in the country.
The Head, Customer Care Call, Globacom, Kemi Fadipe, spoke at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Women Digital Agenda Summit and Award, 2018 in Lagos.
It was organised by Centre for Cyber Awareness Development with the theme: “Harnessing the Opportunities in the 21st Century.
Fadipe said Globacom believes that women empowerment was a necessary step if a country was to overcome the obstacles associated with poverty and development.
According to her, one way to empower women is to bring innovative Information Communication Technology (ICT) products and services within the reach of all regardless of age, tribe or gender.
”Globacom, since inception, has demonstrated that it is committed to liberalising access to telecommunication services by making them affordable to all classes of Nigerians.
”Besides, Globacom has been a pillar of support to many female entrepreneurs, assisting them with cutting-edge solutions to enable them to compete favourably and advance in their chosen fields.
”The telecommunication company is also today the greatest supporter of entertainment and entertainers, many of whom are women.
”It is our pledge that we will continue to promote gender equality and fair access to ICT in Nigeria,” she said.
Fadipe said that the potential of ICT for stimulating economic growth, socio-economic development and effective governance was well recognised.
She said it has been well established that there was a positive correlation between access to ICT and economic growth and development.
According to her, the United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000 underscored the urgency of ensuring that the benefits of new technologies were made available to all.
“Since then, the race has been on to ensure that, in accordance with this declaration, the benefits of ICT are made available to all without bias or geographical location, race, language, and especially, gender.
”Efforts to bridge the digital divide have yielded tremendous results in the last couple of decades so as efforts to bridge the gender divide.
”Particularly, over the past decade, the United Nations’ intergovernmental processes have made significant contributions to the collective efforts to identify key issues and propose strategic actions to enhance women’s empowerment through ICT.
”A lot still needs to be done to advance the cause of women empowerment in Africa and bridge the gender divide.
”We must acknowledge the efforts of individuals and corporate bodies in Nigeria, who over the years, have shown support for the cause of women empowerment.
”Nigeria’s digital transformation leader, Globacom, number highly on this list of progressive companies which is silently contributing their quotas to empowering Nigerian women,’’ Fadipe said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Globacom was among the leading partners of the event.
NAN also reports that there were eight categories of award, Best Women Enterprise Support, which was awarded to Globacom in recognition of its extraordinary support for women entrepreneurs.
The Champion of Digital Women award was given to Dr Isa Ali Patami.
Also, Nigeria Communication Commission got the Digital Impact Organisation of the Year, while Outstanding Woman Advocate Award went to Mrs Joe Okei-Odumakin.
(NAN)
