Nigeria Pilots Digital ICT Clubs in Girls’ Schools

Nigeria’s Minister for Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson, has ushered in Digital Girls Club in 12 pilot Federal Government Girls Schools across the country. The creation of the club, she said, was targeted towards empowering Nigerian girls to embrace careers in ICT. The end goal is to launch the club across all federal colleges with a curriculum teaching girls relevant technology skills. Johnson said there is a need for Nigeria to increase the participation of females in ICT. She explained, “The Digital Girls Club is part of the Girls and Women initiative of the federal government which is geared at empowering Nigerian women and girls. This administration, in a bid to empower women and girls in Nigeria, created a gender empowerment scheme titled Girls and Women in Nigeria (G-WIN) with the sole aim of positively impacting and improving the lot of women and girls in Nigeria.” She continued, “Our desire is that the Digital Girls ICT Clubs will empower Nigerian girls and lead to the development of an army of ICT compliant girls that will contribute to the economic growth and empowerment of Nigeria in the future.” She said the Ministry of Communication Technology was working hard to ensure Nigeria leverages the power of ICT to transition to a knowledge-based economy.