By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Following the efforts to bring the digital incubation programme to the doorsteps of young people, particularly girls in Kaduna State, Hon. Henry Marah, the Chairman of Information, NGOs and Development Partners in the Kaduna State House of Assembly has said that the State’s Assembly is working with the relevant arms and stakeholders of the state government to ensure digital literacy for girls in the state.
Hon. Henry Marah made this statement during a stakeholder engagement meeting with the team members of the Creative Arts for Development Centre (CRADC) over their advocacy project on the Advocacy for the Expansion of the Kaduna Digital Incubation Programme saying that it is better to diffuse the digital incubation project across the three zones.
“The Kaduna State House of Assembly is aware of the over centralization of many government programmes. We are working to decentralize them and KAD-DIP is one programme that we want to take to the three zones”.
“We can relate to the factsheet you have presented and we understand the concern of your Advocacy to expand KAD-DIP to Sabon Gari. We want much more than that. We will take it to six (6) locations in the three zones and ensure that girls all across the state benefit from it”, he said.
On his part, Franklin Zaure, the Executive Director of CRAD Centre stated that the Advocacy is imperative given the limited access girls have to digital incubation skills in the state.
According to him, the advocacy for the expansion of the Kaduna Digital Incubation Programme, as supported by Rise Up, is an advocacy project put up together to prepare Kaduna girls for the digital market saying that Kaduna State stand the chance of leading the region and by extension, Nigeria if attention is paid to expanding the digital ecosystem for girls.
While hailing the efforts of the state legislature in ensuring that sustainable policies and laws are put in place, Sarah Yanayork of SNART Foundation, projected that the expansion KAD-DIP to other zones will bring in investors into the state; something that will result in the creation of more digital jobs for girls.
