By Precious Akintulubo
The unprecedented digital revolution in the 21st century around the world has brought about unprecedented advancement especially in tech including all spheres of life and business with the space opening more for women to explore and become champions using tech.
In Nigeria today, women within the age gap from as young as 10 are now exposed to digital skills like coding and its many uses and applications. Young teenage girls are developing app to help protect them in school.
Story of the 10-year-old Nigerian girls who developed Gender-Based Security (GBS) Alert mobile app for women and girls who are vulnerable to/or experiencing Gender Based Violence, is indeed a digital advancement.
The young developers named Mfoniso Princess Unwana Jacob, Deborah Olaalonpe Oladeru, Eseose Noah-Okpere, are all primary 5 pupils at Jacob’s Well Montessori School International in Port Harcourt and were able to develop the app with support from their mentor, Mr. Somkene Mamah.
GBS Mobile alert app has an alert button feature which instantly sends an alert message with audio evidence of the abuse to the victim’s emergency partners and the appropriate government authorities when tapped by a victim. It also ensures prompt reporting of gender-based violence in Nigeria while protecting the identity of the sender.
With the advancement of the digital revolution, diverse tech tools in this century can be used to help solve different problems. For instance, Database applications/softwares can be used to store data during elections, interviews or storage other than the books of records. Internet of Things (IoT) is also a location tracker and useful for security purposes which is faster than man power.
With the influx of more girls and women receiving training in the tech spaces to run businesses, navigate spaces or use tech as tools to solve problems, we are beginning to see a remarkable trend of more women within and outside Nigeria conquering the digital spaces and driving digital revolution in Nigeria despite the bias against women where a high number of people still believe that tech is male-centric ability.
Statistics Of Women Exploring Tech In Nigeria
According to Nigeria Bureau Of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria females make up an average 22% of the total number of Engineering and Technology university graduates each year.
In Africa, women are about 30% of the continent’s tech professionals.
Young Nigeria Women Driving Tech In Nigeria
Different young women across Nigeria are driving tech for the digital revolution in Nigeria by getting involved in tech, teaching others and also impacting the country at large.
Emmanuella Azegba, a young tech woman had her tech experience revolving around Community Management, Project Management, HRM, Communications, Employee Relations, CRM, Brand Content, Marketing Strategies and data science. Her alignment of tech with social entrepreneurship made her became a Jamii Femme, Women in Africa Fellow’22. This is a fellowship that supports African Woman Entrepreneurs for sustainable impacts in their diverse country.
Speaking on how she has been making exploits and impacting others, Emmanuella said “For the past few months, I have been leveraging technology into other sectors, most especially as a community manager by building communities and bridging the gap between organisations and the target audience, driving sales and credibility. I’ve also impacted others through online webinars and training for students for the purpose of tech skills acquisitions needed for the future .”
Emmanuella believes that as a female, you stand out being independent especially when you have a relevant skill hereby bridging the gaps in gender equality, it is best to make the digital space a soothing place to be without any forms of discrimination
“In the next 5 years , I see myself leading a reputable firm as a data analyst.” Emmanuella added.
Gloria Akanni, another young Nigeria woman advancing the digital revolution, is a young digital business coach and founder of a tech space named The Eagle’s Foundation that has empowered many Nigerians in digital skills.
Speaking on her experience as a woman in tech, Gloria explained how several people who wanted to know the founder of her foundation were really surprised that it was founded by a woman.
Sighting her personal experience, Gloria explained how tech is payable aside it’s other advantages.  “The digital space is the fastest and highest paying job right now so the best way for women to fill this loose gap is to get involved which all has to do with the mindset.”
Esther Joseph, a young digital business consultant and founder of Blue Creativity is also a young Nigeria woman who is driving digital revolution in Nigeria by acquiring the digital skills and also upskilling other via her academy.
Esther believes that a woman in tech is one who has unraveled her potential skills and sees herself as a problem solver.
Esther sighted advantages that a Nigeria woman in tech stands to gain. According to her, “If we have a good number of Nigerian women making proper innovations and breaking the bias in tech, this will as well place them on the same table with the same gender of other countries and also help increase the family standard of living at the local level which reflects in the economy of the country.”
The advent of the digital space has the goal of ensuring a proper standard of living and typical globalized economy in Nigeria today. More Nigeria women are hereby called to drive digital revolution via more involvement in tech spaces. More opportunities can be found via the GOOGLE site and other tech institutes.
