Main One Backs ICT Education in Secondary, Tertiary Institutions

Main One Backs ICT Education in Secondary, Tertiary Institutions

Main One Communications Services Company has reiterated its determination to boost Information and Communications Technology (ICT), especially in secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

According to the company, it became interested in supporting ICT education because it presents great opportunities for redirecting objectives of educational development from knowledge to economic empowerment.

Speaking at the 5th convocation ceremony of the American University of Nigeria, Yola recently, Chief Executive Officer, Main One, Ms. Funke Opeke, stated that only a holistic incorporation of ICT into the Nigerian educational system could produce 21st Century Nigerian university graduates, who are ICT-compliant, and economically and digitally empowered to contribute to national development.

Opeke, who was represented by Head of Sales at Main One, Mrs. Bolanle Ogundogba, said: "Our effort is hinged on strengthening global competitiveness of the Nigerian student, ensuring their continued relevance to themselves and their society, and the need to get Nigeria's educational institutions relevant on the global stage through improved access to ICT. That is why we have consistently supported educational institutions, and improved their administrative and education processes."

Ogundogba explained that digital literacy was expedient to the improvement of the quality of lives of any individual in today's contemporary world and Main One is committed to accelerating connectivity penetration across educational institutions in Nigeria.

In a similar effort to underscore the importance to ICT as a profession and the opportunities therein, especially for young girls, Main One for the second year running, recently sponsored the E-Business Life and hosted International Girls in ICT Day, a one-day workshop backed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The Girls in ICT Day, which aims at bringing young girls to the knowledge and active participation in fashioning the ICT landscape of their various countries, was held in Lagos recently, with the theme: "Tech Needs Girls to Invent the Future".

Marketing Manager, Main One, Mrs. Morenike Alder, who represented Opeke at the Girls in ICT Day celebration, noted that though women were half the world's population and half the world's talent, a persistent gender gap in the ICT field existed, that threatened the active participation of women in the ICT sector, with the male-female gap more pronounced at senior levels.

Opeke attributed Europe's economic growth in the last decade to the narrowing of the male-female employment gap, and urged the Nigerian ICT sector to create an enabling environment for women and girls, and invest more resources in human capital development. She also stressed the importance in making the ICT curriculum relevant, and the various ways ICT could be used to solve important problems.