The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, on Thursday in Abuja urged Nigerian girls to develop their talent in information communication technology (ICT) for national development.
Buhari, represented by Sen. Binta Garba, made the call at the graduation ceremony of the Girls in ICT Connect, an advocacy and empowerment outreach to teenage girls organised by Nobleteens.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training had the theme“ Expanding Horizon and Changing Attitude ‘’.
Buhari said the girls were privileged to be trained in ICT as they had been given a goldmine to operate.
“All depends on how you make use of the training given to you.
“We were told that ICT can create wealth, as we can sell and buy with ICT and most programmes revolve within the sector
“The girl-child should see herself as a blessing and not a curse. She is intelligent, focused and has the zeal of a go-getter and an achiever, and this is something the nation should be proud of.
“I believe in the girl-child, I believe in the mother and the children, that is why we have a pet project for the girl-child education and the Future Assured, ‘’she said.
The wife of the President however said there were challenges as nothing comes easy in life. “But the most important thing is for the girls to remain focused.
“So, all of you are children who will make the country proud and make things work.’’
She commended the organisers of the programme for bringing out the talent in the children.
Speaking also, Prof Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice-Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said the ICT sector needed more women to fill up existing gap.
“According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the sector will hire 1.7 million people in the coming years. Of this, how many are women?’’
Represented by Mr Tony Ojobo, NCC’s Director of Communications, Danbatta said It was imperative for women to utilise and harness the inherent power in the ICT sector to their advantage.
He said women would, in order to do that, have to access the services ICT offers, as well as opportunities.
“The implication of this for women is enormous and this includes gender equality and diversity.
“ICT also will serve as an important tool for inculcating quality and break the gender barriers, provide the girl-child equal opportunity to go to school, equal opportunity to learn and equal opportunity for growth and development.
“The future is ICT and ICT is the future as it opens a new world of working interactions, creativity and innovations for the girl child with the evolution of smart devices, social media and being globally connected to the world.’’
Danbatta added that the NCC was taking the initiative of ensuring that more women and girls were involved in ICT.
He however urged girls to close the gap by expanding their horizon and changing their attitude towards ICT, challenging them to “use it to make an impact on their generation and Nigeria as a nation’’.
NAN reports that the training began on Monday with 50 girls trained on different ICT applications.
It is part of the activities to celebrate the “2016 International Girls Day in ICT‘’, and is celebrated annually around the world on the fourth Thursday of April.(NAN)