Jonny Baxter, British Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria has pledged the commitment of United Kingdom to close the digital divide in the country. He said UK has been a leading partner in working with the Nigerian people to close the digital gender divide in Nigeria.
Speaking at an Award Ceremony for DigiHubs (DigiGirls Partners) held in Lagos, Baxter said: “we have championed inclusion for women and girls into the digital economy through projects such as Digi girls. This is because we know that the data says that inclusion leads to an increase in economic power.
“We know that women and girls are disproportionately impacted by climate change, natural disasters and conflict because they exacerbate existing inequality and barriers in accessing services and support.
“Yet women are critical front-line responders when crisis hits and are crucial voices in decision making processes – if given the space to be heard”.
He noted that, the participation of civil society groups, including women’s organisations, makes a peace agreement of 64% less likely to fail, and “we know that the benefit of reducing conflict in other countries is felt in many other countries of the world.
“Gender inequality is particularly entrenched for women and girls who face multiple discrimination because of their age, religion, disability, sexuality, race or other difference,” he added.
Mr. Baxter while reflecting on the Digital Access Programme in Nigeria, expressed the UK’s committment to being a global science and technology partner, working with others to develop solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, including on digital skills.
He said the UK firmly believes in the future growth story of Nigeria’s digital sector. “To continue to drive this growth, Nigeria needs a combination of increased access to safe, affordable, faster and better-quality internet, an encouraging regulatory environment, a skilled talent pool, and access to investment and partnership opportunities.
“Our in-country digital strategy focuses on working with both the government and private sector to improve infrastructure, build cyber resilience, reduce barriers to digital innovation, drive the upskilling of a digital workforce and improve policy and regulatory frameworks.
“Through the Digital Access Programme, we work with the Federal Government, State governments and policy makers as well as the Private Sector on removing systemic barriers to connectivity expansion”.
One of such programmes is the Digi-girls programme where last year on International Women Day, the UK launched a 10-year Women and girls’ strategy which showcases its commitment to tackling gender inequality across the globe.
“The first two cohorts of the Digi-girls programme saw the training and upskilling of 6,800 women and girls. While that might look like a large number it was only 6.3% of the people that applied for the opportunity to be trained for free.
“For us, it felt like we needed to do more. We thought about how we could make this project reach more people and have a wider impact yet still be sustainable. We then decided to experiment with using local technology hubs to deliver upskilling to women and girls. This would strengthen the hubs as well as provide a physical space where women and girls could learn undisturbed.
“Our experiment paid off and in this present phase of the project Cybersafe was able to train 59,900 women and girls. We did this with support of 200 volunteer Alumni DigiGirls called DigiChampions and a partnership with 60 hubs across 22 states in Nigeria.
“We believe that this programme has helped in addressing the digital inequality in Nigeria – and we will continue to support programmes like this,” he stated.
Mrs. Confidence Staveley, founder and executive director of CyberSafe Foundation said that Education is the key to getting more women into tech and a door to innovation. “Inclusion of women will not happen by chance, it will take intentional, tailored and targeted investment in women to accelerate progress that we so desperately need”.
Among DigiHubs that won award at the event include; Guru Innovation Hub, Cross River that won Impact Amplifier Award, Inclusive Excellence Champion Award was won by NHub Incubator, Plateau.
Community Engagement and Outreach Award went to Dignity International Consults, Imo State.
Others are Outstanding Community Impact Award (A.K.A Grassroot Empowerer Award) won by Jbest ICT, Kaduna; and Mission Champion Award (A.K.A Overall Best Hub) won by Development Hub, Borno.