NITDA Commences ICT Training for Women to Boost the Federal Government’s Plan on Economic Recovery and Growth

In its bid to support the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Buhari-led Administration, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commenced its first set of Women in ICT training.

The broad objectives of the ERGP include: restoring growth, investing in the Nigerian people, and building a globally competitive economy.

While speaking on the training the NITDA Boss, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami said, ““It is clear from these that for any meaningful growth to take place, consideration must be given to the citizens – the nation’s priceless assets – through increased social inclusion, creating jobs and improving the human capital base of the economy.

“Towards the realization of these laudable objectives, we in NITDA, in our efforts at assessing and addressing ICT skills requirements to support sustainable economic growth and development strides, this year, developed this unique training Programme targeting women,”  he added.

According to the agency, women have unequal access to economic opportunities than men, thus technology can be used to bridge the gap.

According to ITedgenews, the first batch of the programme is scheduled to hold in the North West region and is aimed to train 100 women, create 300 hundred direct jobs and over 1000 indirect jobs. The training has officially kicked off this week.

The aim is to boost digital literacy, creating digital jobs, bridging the digital divide, promoting digital inclusion, and using technology to address gender imbalance in economic opportunities. Statistics have shown that women’s participation in ICT is less than 24% and NITDA is working to bridge the gap through special training programmes for women in addition to the usual ICT capacity development activities of which both men and women are given equal opportunities.

The four weeks training programme will focus on focuses on key ICT skill areas including entrepreneurship development, business management, ICT and communication.

Also, ITedgenews reported that in line with the Federal Government’s  resolve to sustainable human capital development, the programme will be fully funded and participants will be provided with first class accommodation, feeding and healthcare services for the duration of the training. In addition, each participant will also receive customized laptop computer system, stipend and other tools to aid their future pursuits.