The Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) has trained 330 women from the Niger Delta in various digital skills to tackle the unemployment challenge.
The programme, which took place in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was funded by the European Union (EU) with the following digital skills: Marketing/Content Creation, Data Analysis, Web Design, Computer Appreciation, Graphics and Product Design and Cyber Security. The Project is titled: ‘Reducing Digital Gender Gaps in the Niger Delta.’
In his welcome address, the Executive Director, SDN, Adam Heal encouraged the beneficiaries to support one another and not stand in isolation since they have shown remarkable commitment, while promising to assist them to stand strong as they are part of the growing network with unending possibilities.
Earlier, the Rivers State Commissioner for Youth Development, Chizom Kenneth Gbali, in his remarks, assured the women of state’s government support.
The commissioner disclosed during the ceremony of second batch of Women in Digital Skills, saying that Governor Siminalaiye Fubara has built the biggest Youth Resource Centre ever in Nigeria.
Gbali explained that the governor was the most youth-friendly state chief-executive who is creating peace and waters of prosperity and opening the spectrum of development in Rivers State.
“The world belongs to those who learn more skills and apply it,” he said.
He charged them to think out-of-the-box and not be relegated to the background, noting that creative imagination is the way out of hardship. He also tasked them on the need to add value to what they have learnt.
The Commissioner further tasked the women to brace up for the challenge since they have been economically, socially and politically denied for so long. He advised them not to limit themselves.
According to Afolabi Ogunmola, SDN Finance manager, the project is targeting over 1500 beneficiaries across the Niger Delta states of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom, out of which 330 women benefited in the second batch.
He said that SDN was celebrating the success of over 300 women who have been trained in different endeavours, saying that their hard work has paid off and that they are now role models in their fields.
In her keynote address, Olalekan Rashidat, State manager, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), enumerated the various duties of the Agency which includes institutionalising and democratising ease of doing business in Nigeria.
She stated that SMIDAN also stimulates monitors, coordinates small businesses and promotes technology in business with e- commerce, online presence and cyber security training, noting that they also fund some businesses to assist women in agriculture and to support female entrepreneurs, among others.
In his goodwill message, Emily Dianase Solomon, former commissioner for Special Duties and immediate past chairman, Rivers State Secondary School Board, represented by Ebovi Wali, the global director, Nomadi Africa Institute, opined that technology was now the pathway to development, adding that technology is the movement of the world as it brings about invention.
“We are preaching the technology of legacy and Africa cannot remain behind,” he said.
Others, who delivered goodwill messages are Regional Director South-South National Information Technology Development Agency (NTIDA), represented by Angalabiri Christopher and Anita Okonweze, Wentors Programmes manager.
On her part, the Deputy Programme Manager and Project Lead of SDN, Ifeoma Ndekwu, who spoke on the ‘Journey So Far,’ narrated how SDN got the concept and designed the programme to assist over 300 women in digital knowledge and skills so that they can be self-employed.
