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 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’’.
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.
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