Girl-child education in Nigeria is getting a massive lift as Huawei Technologies, Chinese maker of telecommunications equipment and infrastructure, says it has invested about $1.3 million (N221 million) in Information Communication Technology (ICT) training for girls. Hover Gao, vice president of Huawei West Africa, made this known at a media parley held in Lagos, weekend.
November last year saw the firm, with annual revenues of CNY 240.0 billion in 2013; enter into partnership with FMCT to provide 1,000 Nigerian girls with basic ICT training. This initiative is part of the global campaign ‘Tech Needs Girls’ developed by The International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
This global sensitisation campaign, according to the firm, has raged for over 20 years and has produced tangible results in many countries, Nigeria inclusive.
On November 27th, Marco Obiso, the Cyber security Coordinator of International Telecom Union (ITU), visited Huawei Nigeria to evaluate this program and to share the experience with ITU members globally. This one-year-duration program has provided 424 training opportunities during 9 sessions until now. By the end of this program, 200 top participants out of the 1,000 girls will get further training for the attainment of a certification as Huawei Certified Datacom Associate (HCDA). The Chinese company however strives to create a platform to nurture work-ready and world-ready graduates by providing authentic learning and ICT industry-relevant education and training. Huawei has also expressed its utmost commitment towards continually providing more training opportunities to Nigerians in 2014.
According to Huawei, it is the first ICT solutions provider to establish an ICT training centre in Abuja back in 2004, further adding that since then the training centre has continued to provide opportunities to ICT practitioners. Top achievers with Huawei HCDA certification will have the priority-access to Huawei Human resources pool to be employed by Huawei.
All the participants will be recommended by Huawei to Huawei Channel partners such as operators, ICT solutions providers and ICT departments in enterprises.
An awards ceremony will be organized this April as ITU has designated the 4th Thursday in April every year as a day set to celebrate and encourage girls to take up careers in ICT.
The technology company is now seeking to create a robust platform for more people to get involved in this program.
Ben Uzor Jr
