Mr Isiah Owolabi, the Project Director of the NGO, said this at a pre-training session tagged; ``Code4Impact’’.
He said that the training was being put together in conjunction with Access Bank and the United States’ Consulate General.
Owolabi said the programme would be free for the beneficiaries, adding that it was geared toward addressing the problems of the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).
He said that technology was the biggest way to accelerate entrepreneurship development and achieve the SDGs, by giving more access to education and close the gender-gap in the education sector.
According to Owolabi, the programme aims at training young girls as software engineers and ICT entrepreneurs.
The director said the girls would be trained on how to create mobile word application, games and also utilise micro electronics.
Owolabi said the girls, between ages 18 years and 30 years, were selected among 1,518 applicants based on their interests and willingness to acquire knowledge in ICT.
.He said the beneficiaries would undergo the programme every Saturday, beginning from April 2, for 12 weeks.
``We cannot train all the girls in Nigeria to become coders or ICT entrepreneurs.
``But, we believe the selected girls can be a point of contact for so many communities and other young girls,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Mrs Omobolanle Laniyan, the Head of Sustainability unit, Access Bank, said the bank partnered the organisers because there was a global focus on empowering women and addressing the challenges of the SDGs.
Laniyan said the programme was unique as it aimed at utilising Information Technology (IT) to provide innovative solutions to challenges of the SDGs.
She said the programme would harness the high potentials in women, as females have the ability to do multiple tasks at the same time.
``When you empower a woman, you empower the society because women gently influence decisions in the home, which translate into the society,’’ she said.
According to Laniyan, the organisers are optimistic that the participants will turn out to become computer applications and IT experts as well as being coders at the end of the programme.
Similarly, Mrs Dehab Ghebreab, the Public Affairs Officer of the United States Consulate General, said the consul was proud to partner the organiser in developing young girls.
Ghebreab remarked that training young girls in coding and ICT entrepreneurship was a great innovation that was worth the investment.
She advised girls to be focused and dedicated, so that they could become ICT entrepreneurs and coders which would solve the challenges of the SDGs.
A participant, Miss Kemi Rotimi, said that she was happy to be among the beneficiaries.
Rotimi, a young graduate, said she was interested in ICT, coding and Web developing and this would avail her the opportunity to explore it.
The training would hold at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) every Saturday between 10 a.m. and 5p.m. from April 2.
The event would be supported by some computer companies.
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