April 14, 2018

Ms Chioma Agwuegbo, Founder, Community for Women in Technology, an NGO, has called on women to embrace the use of technology and coding to develop and be empowered.

Agwuegbo gave the advice on Saturday at the 2018 Conference organised by SheCan Nigeria in Lagos with the theme: “She Can Do More’’.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the focus of the conference is to motivate women to get involved in technology and coding.

According to her, acquiring knowledge is the key strength that women need to be empowered.

“Women are championing innovations in various places, from health to technology to agriculture. They actively seek out knowledge and they should let it transform the things they do,” she said.

Agwuegbo urged women not to see technology as a means to an end, but to study and understand how it could be deployed to make their lives better.

Also, the Chief Core Operations Officer, Interswitch, Oremeyi Akah, advised women to learn how to incorporate technology in whatever they do, saying that it was too relevant to be ignored.

She cautioned women against using the internet only for music downloads, but should use it to add value and empower themselves.

“Always ask yourself what is the next skill I need to become relevant?’

“You can apply technology to a field that is not technology related,” she said.

In her remarks, Ezinne Ezeani, the Founder, SheCan Nigeria, said that the conference was aimed at helping women to achieve more by realising their hidden capabilities.

The highlight of the conference was when Standup Comedienne, Helen Paul, pulled off her wig and said, “What defines you is not the wig.”

Paul, who is also an On-Air-Personality, admonished women to refrain from poor attitude and excuses toward their works and businesses.

She revealed how she founded the Helen Paul Academy in U.S, saying, “achievers don’t get it smoothly.

“Don’t look down on anybody, because they can either destroy or make you.”

A participant, Sylvia Kalu, said that women still needed a lot of preparations to be ready for technology.

“The preparations need to start from the grassroots and early from the primary schools,” she said.

Another participant, Adenike Adeniji, said that she was motivated by the speakers and had learnt to package what she could do and not be carried away with packaging ‘looks’.

“I also learnt that women need to marry men who support their careers,” she said.