United Nations, W.TEC Urge FG to Invest in Girl Child, Insist on Technology Education

Emma Okonji

Nigerian government has been advised to invest in girl education and to expose them early to technology education, where lots of opportunities abound.

The advice was given in Lagos during the celebration of the 2022 International Day of the Girl Child, organised by Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), in collaboration with the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Nigeria and the Union Bank of Nigeria.  

The Director, United Nations Information Centre in Nigeria, Mr. Roland Kayanja, in his goodwill message, advised Nigerian government to invest in the girl child, in order to ensure the education of the girl child.

According to him, the girl child will be able exercise her full rights in her community and society, when given the right education.

Head, Strategic Brand Management at Union Bank, Ngozichukwuka Akinyele, in her keynote address, commended the United Nations Information Centre for being at the forefront of accelerating the rights of the girl child and advocacy of women in general.

According to her, “Girls must be assured of equitable access to opportunities in all aspects of their lives, from education to employment and for us at Union Bank, we are proud to partner with organisations like W.TEC and UNIC who help push for gender parity. Gender equality is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that we are particularly passionate about and contribute actively towards. Through our dedicated women’s proposition alpher, we advocate for and promote female empowerment initiatives because we firmly believe that educating and nurturing girls will have a fundamentally positive impact on our development as a country.”

Akinyele encouraged the girls to be courageous to stand up for equality, equity, and social justice, so that they would be today’s champions of equality and inclusion, and tomorrow’s wise leaders of the world.  

Executive Director, Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), Mrs. Oreoluwa Lesi, said: “The theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl Child is ‘Our Time is Now, Our Rights, Our Future’ and the focus is about how to use technology to better the life of the girl child. So W.TEC is encouraging Nigerian girls and girls all over the world to embrace technology and use technology to access new opportunities, as we celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child.”

Lesi said W.TEC was able to pull girls from various public schools in Lagos State and assembled them concurrently in Oregun, Lagos, and at the United Nations Information Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos, to celebrate this year’s International Day of the Girl Child with them.

According to her, “We partnered Union Bank and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) to mentor the girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The Union Bank team came with facilitators, who trained the girls on various technology and social developmental learning, including STEM career mentorship, during breakout sessions. At the workshop session, some of the girls were trained on projects like solar powered phone charger and computer keyboard light. The mentorship provides opportunity for the girls to build their future career.”