Contributing to the voices advocating for the girl rights and education, E-Business Life Communication Ltd, in concert with Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) celebrated girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the International Girls in ICT Day themed “Becoming a Super Girl in ICT”, in Lagos on Thursday, May 4 2018.
The event, which was originally celebrated globally on Thursday, 26th of April, 2018, is an initiative of the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, which intends to create a global environment that empower and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of ICT, as well as enable both girls and technology companies to reap the benefits of greater female participation in the sector ICT.
The program which was the seventh edition since it began in Nigeria in 2012 served as a platform to encourage secondary school girls to take on any career of their choice irrespective of gender.
“We want to encourage our young girls to delve into ICT based careers or at best intensify its use in what they do,” Ufuoma Emuophedaro, Publisher, E-Business Life Communication Ltd, said in her welcome address.
Emuophedaro said that she was pushed to initiate the event in the country because she felt that women could do more than they are, and particularly because “we need women to aid the development of some of the things that we have” and also because she believes that if they took part in the creation they would “put in a feminine touch”
Victoria Etim Bassey, software developer, Systemspecs praised the organisers for the event, and noted that the IT world was interesting because there is a lot to learn. “We’re not even using half of it.” She said.
Bassey noted that although ICT could be challenging, she believes that with the right mentor, passion and hands on practical, the challenges will be overcome.
“The challenge in ICT is that there are too many things to learn, and too many things to do. And at some point your interest will just die down or you will not be interested in coding or learning something new. When you get to that point, you need to look for a mentor, or someone to talk to, wo will remind you that you need to do some more, and then you inspire yourself and you create something for yourself,” Bassey explained.
In cognizance to the complexity of the terminologies employed in coding materials which could sometimes make coding difficult to understand, Bassey urged the girls to avoid textbooks with “big English”, and go for the ones “with simple English”. And for them to get better, she also encouraged them to get hands on practicals, type small codes, “do small things that make small sense” because by doing a lot of those they will be “creating big things that make big sense.”
Lola Akande, Lagos State Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation who was represented by Olusola Falana said that the topic –’Becoming an ICT Super Girl’ was timely because ICT was a global phenomenon capable of making the girl child financially dependent through online trading even “without owning a physical shop.”
“This year’s celebration of becoming an ICT super girl is a wake up call for all our girls out there to open their minds to the opportunities which abound in the ICT world and also help develop their potentials in order to add value to the society,” Akande said in her goodwill message
Ola Brown who was awarded for her role in furthering the cause of health care in Nigeria through technology admonished girls to take advantage of opportunities and not shy away from careers that seem to appeal only to the masculine, no matter how it looks to anybody else.
In the competition, which was between the eight schools in attendance, Lagoon Secondary school clinched the first position, Regan Baptist Girls Academy was placed second position. While Faith Academy came third, Chrisland College and Bapstist Girls tied in the fourth position.
Desmond Okon
