The management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has donated equipment worth N 3milliom to Women Advancement and Youth Research Foundation (WAYREF) an information and communication technology (ICT) training centre on Saturday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the items donated are: 10 laptops, five desktop computers, 3in1 copier, printer and scanner machine, water dispenser, industrial fan and two air conditioners.
Mr Adeoye Fadeyibi, the Managing Director of EKEDC, said the donation to the Non-governmental organisation (NGO) was in fulfilment of the company’s mandate of encouraging gender equality in the ICT sector to empower girls.
He said the contribution was part of a global campaign to encourage young girls to consider ICT as a profession and to contribute their quota to the growth of the industry in Nigeria, while also actualising self-development.
Fadeyibi represented by Mrs Sheri Adegbenro, Chief Audit and Compliance Officer of the company said EKEDC identified an NGO that had carried out a great initiative on empowerment on female gender equality.
“We are passionate about female gender empowerment; we usually partner with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that pushes gender equality within Africa.
“Eko has always been at the front runner of pushing such positive initiative in empowering female gender.
“Our goal is to proactively seek initiates that promote and support NGOs that promote gender equality in Nigeria and Africa in general,” he said.
Fadeyibii said the company gave items worth’s over N3 million to encourage and empower the female gender on ICT because technology was critical to the present and the future.
“Our idea is to create an environment that will empower and encourage girls and young women to consider careers in the ICT field,” he said.
Dr Arinola Oluwo, the founder of WEYRE Foundation, commended EKEDC’s support towards empowering the female gender on ICT development within Obalende and environs.
Arinola said: “We lauded the opportunity that EKEDC gave us through the donation of ICT equipment and we urged other individuals and corporate organisations to emulate the company.”
She said the Foundation started in 2007 out of the desire to help women, particularly girls because of the challenges they face in the society.
“We encourage girls from poor communities in order to develop them and we offer free services to them. We are also planning to extend our outreach centres in Lagos.
“We set out to see what we can do to make the lives of our young girls better for them. Over the years we do a lot of awareness, advocacy, we talk to the women about their rights and things that affect their rights.
“We thought that economic empowerment was critical and we also found out that women needed to control their resources.
“We also found out that girls and women were behind in ICT, hence we started in 2019 to have a Girl Reading Centre in Obalende, and we are very happy that girls are embracing it.
