The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has condemned the rejection of some gender-related constitution amendment bills by Nigerian legislators.
Ms Laing, who spoke on Tuesday at the maiden graduation ceremony of some young women who participated in a digital technology skills training supported by the United Kingdom, said the development would, among other things, affect the aspiration of young Nigerian women.
The technology training which was codenamed “DigiGirls,” is an initiative of Cyber Safe Foundation, a non-governmental organisation focused on ensuring inclusive and safe digital access in Nigeria, and Africa by extension.
Concern
The high commissioner said Nigerian women must have enough role models in senior positions, particularly in politics, in order to overcome challenges and break barriers confronting them.
She, however, noted that with the rejection of the bills by the parliamentarians such role models would be scarce in the country.
She said: “Sadly we saw in the constitutional amendment, some very good proposals to improve the life of women in places and especially in politics, but they were rejected by men. So until we break these barriers and enable women to take up leadership positions there won’t be enough role models for young girls to aspire and see that they too can break the barriers.”
She added that the DigiGirls graduation ceremony which coincided with the annual celebration of the International Women’s Day, is an indication of individual and institution’s quest for change.
She said many countries are still behind in ensuring women occupy their rightful place in the society and that Nigeria is not left out.
Mrs Laing said: “In Nigeria and globally, we are facing some challenges to ensure women take their rightful place in leadership roles in politics, business, arts and other areas. But I think this programme is very apt. Technology is going to be the future for Nigeria but it’s been very difficult for women and girls to get into it. So I believe that this programme will help because it is a practical approach.
“The women who are graduating today have now been empowered to take up various positions, to be leaders in their communities, to have a strong livelihood and to drive the future economy of Nigeria.”
On rejected bills
Nigerian legislators had last week rejected a total of five gender-related bills including the one aimed at expanding the scope of citizenship by registration and another concerning affirmative action for women in political party administration, and also a bill on provision for criteria to be an indigene of a state in Nigeria.
The bill on a 20 per cent quota for women for appointment into federal and states cabinets was also rejected by the lawmakers.
There are, however, signs that the lawmakers may rescind their decision following the sustained opposition from civil societies and prominent individuals and organisations.
On Tuesday, Hassan Fulata (APC, Jigawa) moved a motion to rescind the House’s earlier decision on three of the bills.
£20m for African women
Meanwhile, Ms Laing also commented on the United Kingdom Government’s support for women globally, listing politics, technology, among others, as areas receiving attention.
She added that the UK is supporting the DigiGirls programme through its UKaid programme.
She said: “Our prime minister today is launching a programme for Africa and other developing countries. It is a 20 million pounds support to partner with businesses to give young girls the kind of skills that DigiGirls offer.
“This will enable girls to take up leadership positions in business and politics. We support women who are active in civil society, in climate change and other areas to empower girls and women to aspire to leadership roles and take them up so that Nigeria can take advantage of the amazing talents.”
About DigiGirls
On her part, the founder of Cyber Safe Foundation, Confidence Staveley, said she conceived the idea of DigiGirls after the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
She said: “I looked around and I know that if COVID-19 taught us something, it is the fact that digital skills are required and if we don’t give women those skills they are going to be cut off from the digital economy and prosperity, especially seeing that technology is booming in Nigeria. So, we don’t want half of the country’s population to be cut off from it.”
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She said the foundation has built a sense of community with the participants to encourage each other, as part of strategies to build on the knowledge gained.
Ms Staveley said: “We also have an alumni community where we will be continually sharing opportunities with these women and ensuring that they continue to grow with the skills they have learnt.
“They are getting internship opportunities too which will set them to begin their careers in technology. We currently have more opportunities for these women than we have women that are trained for and open to taking them.
“Because we know that it is challenging being a mother and trying to gain new skills, we have introduced a form of an award at a different level in the programme so as you are growing you are getting some gratification or some points, some pegs for learning to encourage the women and make the programme more interesting.”
Women with disability
Speaking about inclusion, Ms Staveley said the foundation has introduced an interpreter for delivering training to hearing-impaired women and has made arrangements for other categories of women with disabilities.
“We have also increased the number of intakes from 2,400 in the first cohort to 4,000 for the next cohort,” she said.
She said courses offered include data analysis, digital marketing, user interface and user experience, graphics design and e-commerce.
Beneficiary speaks
One of the beneficiaries of the programme, Adeoye Oluwadamilola, a graduate of Early Childhood Education Studies, said she registered for the programme when companies refused to employ her without a digital skill.
Miss Adeoye said she is very happy that she made it. She, however, lamented the rigour of what she described as “a very tough and long journey.”
She said: “Because of my determination I left home to stay with a friend and I slept on a banner I laid on the floor for the 3 months I stayed with her.
“I have already started making money because I have been training some women through WhatsApp for a token.
“The programme has helped me to become a boss of my own. Immediately after I finished the programme I got a website job to design and I was paid N110,000. Yet, before this programme, I couldn’t even operate a computer.”
Miss Adeoye who studied User Interface and User Experience, UIUE, said before the programme, she was a teacher with a private school where she was being paid N15,000 monthly but never received N15,000 because of surcharges.
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