FG Launches Growing Girls And Women In Nigeria Initiative (GWIN)

As part of efforts in preparing Nigerians for global competitiveness, the Ministry of Communication Technology is empowering women and girls through the Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria (GWIN).
This is a gender based budgeting initiative launched by the federal government to plug the gap of under representation of women in viable careers and other sectors.


This move comes to light with the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministries of Finance, Communication Technology, Water Resources, Agriculture, Health, Works, and Women Affairs.
Each Ministry receives extra-budgetary finance to develop and/or expand initiatives that will transform the potentials of Nigerian women.

The three-day training programme for 50 girls per session is part of the ongoing training of 1000 girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) –a capacity building program launched late last year by the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology in partnership with Huawei, a global leader in Information and Communication Technology, to empower girls with ICT skills, improve their employability thus increasing their interest in pursuing careers in ICT.


The Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said that considering that 50% of Nigeria’s population is approximately women and girls, the Federal Government’s involvement is to empower women both socially and economically via ICTs with a view to improve on the economic and social inclusion of the female population of Nigeria and reduce the technology gender divide.
According to Mrs. Johnson, ICT also has the potential to contribute significantly to increase the social welfare of women. After a close monitoring of the 10th batch of the training session of about fifty girls in ICT training last week at the Huawei’s office in Lagos, there were convincing signals that the capacity building program would unlock girls’ potentials through Information Communication Technology


The Vice- President of Huawei West Africa, Mr. Hover Gao, said that out of the 1000 girls participating, about 200 top participants will get further training for the attainment of a certification as Huawei Certified Datacom Associate (HCDA). He added that top achievers with Huawei HCDA certification will have the priority-access to be employed by the organization.


One of the beneficiaries of the programme, a student of Urban and Regional Planning department, University of Lagos, Oladimeji Omobolariwa, stated that “this training really opened my eyes. It has exposed me to the basics ICTs especially on telecommunication and networking. The training is beyond basic computer appreciation. I thank the Communications Technology ministry and Huawei for giving me the opportunity for this training. The training will give me an edge over my colleagues. It is time girls get involved in ICTs; it should not be for men alone”

These initiatives which includes the ICT Girls Clubs, collaboration with a private sector IT entity to the train 1000 girls, and the SmartWoman Nigeria project, has caught the attention of the
International Telecommunication Union, ITU, who applauded Nigeria for the initiative, saying that when the training is completed, it would correct the imbalance in ICT adoption and appropriation among men and women.