" ITREALMS: Girls ICT day 2018: Systemspecs, Vodacom, others join eBusiness Life sign-up

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Girls ICT day 2018: Systemspecs, Vodacom, others join eBusiness Life sign-up

Leading sectorial ICT firms Systemspecs, Vodacom  Business Nigeria, New Horizons  and VDT Communications have signed up to be part of the forthcoming 7th Edition of the International Girls in ICT Day Celebration being organised by eBusiness Life Communication Limited, publishers of eBusiness Life Magazine in Lagos, Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

The event which is scheduled to hold on May 3, 2018 in the Ballroom of the Oriental Hotel in Lekki, is part of a global campaign to encourage young girls to delve into ICT as a profession and contribute their quota to the growth of the industry in Nigeria while also actualising self-development.

International Girls’ in ICT Day is an initiative launched through ITU Resolution 70 with the idea of creating a global environment that will empower and encourage girls and young women to consider careers in the field of information and communication technologies.

In the past six years, eBusiness Life had organised the event annually in Nigeria, gathering young girls from different schools, to educate and sensitize them on the opportunities inherent in a profession in ICT. Also the girls had been made to go through hands-on training on various aspects of ICT and facility visits to ICT companies to get a firsthand experience of the intricacies of the ICT firms.

Systemspecs, with its flagship solution, Remita has been able to transform the epayment arena in Nigeria, becoming a top choice for remittance of funds both in the private and public sectors of the economy. The company’s support for the campaign is stemmed on its belief in global competitiveness through manpower development.

Vodacom Business Nigeria is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Vodacom Group and leading pan-African corporate connectivity and telecommunications provider that has brought affordable and reliable connectivity to Africa since 1992.

A statement from VDT Communications, which operates a Modular Trainee Engineering Program through which it trains engineering graduates annually, notes that the quest to train young Nigerians is to increase their employability in the industry, especially young girls.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of eBusiness Life Communication and convener of the event, Mrs. Ufuoma Emuophedaro, , the need to sensitise young girls is premised on the fact that the society has unconsciously relegated the female gender and delegated careers in technical fields, especially in ICT, to their male counterparts.

She noted that efforts should be made to introduce young girls to career opportunities in technical fields in both the public and private sectors to help them have a wide range of options and contribute their quota in the industry.

Mrs Emuophedaro further stated that the International Girls in ICT Day celebration and subsequent campaign will further open up opportunities for girls in the ICT sector.

A statement from the ITU indicates that ICTs drive growth and innovation worldwide, infiltrating all aspects of human lives. The statement goes on to harp on the need the dire need to groom young people to plug a deficient ICT future: “These ongoing advances in ICTs effectively make digital literacy a prerequisite for employment and entrepreneurship opportunities and are leading to a projected shortage of at least 2 million ICT employees worldwide by 2020. Studies show that not enough young people are choosing careers in ICT - especially not enough young women. Expanding the global technology talent pool to include more women with ICT skills can help fill this gap. This means investing in girls and young women today.“

Speaking further, Mrs. Emuophedaro noted that supporting the global Girls in ICT movement empowers girls and young women, giving them the confidence to pursue ICT studies and careers. “Girls and young women have the potential not only to become ICT users, but also to become ICT creators.“

As part of the 2018 event, there will be Coding training at New Horizons, Nigeria and competitions among students from select secondary schools, roundtable discussion, interactive and motivational talk from renowned women ICT professionals, among others.
The campaign will see young girls take part in facility tours to ICT facilities; participate in seminars that promote ICT development and undergo trainings in ICT.

At the end of the event, it is expected that young girls and students should be able to introspect and pursue any desired career path in ICT without bias, or gender consciousness.

Awards will also be given to deserving female ICT practitioners will form part of the celebration.

Partnership for the event had also been drawn from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Ministry of Communications Technology and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Ministry of Communications.
e-Business Life Magazine is a monthly Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Magazine incorporated to bring better information that would link users and service providers as well as enable Nigeria take its pride of place among the comity of nations in the new global economy.

The mission at e-Business Life Magazine is to inform and educate ICT users on trends and developments both locally and internationally; to provide a platform on which to build ICTs in a Nigeria and also to be a voice for ICT consumers in the country. In addition we are poised to create a world where Nigerian youths have a better understanding of modern technologies and can easily deploy these technologies in developing their communities.


Uj. N. Dominic/ED, Ops

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