The Centre for Integrated Health Programs (CIPH) has urged girls to embrace Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to break societal barriers and harness their talents.
This was the focus at the STEM Hub for Empowerment (S.H.E) Graduation Ceremony of Adolescent girls and young women, held in Lagos, recently.
Chief Executive Officer, CIPH, Bolanle Oyeledun, said that S.H.E Hub is a centre supported by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), set up to address some societal issues.
“We have a lot of orphans and vulnerable ones in the society and we have realised that they don’t have good insight into choosing a profession, having life skills and personal management. We saw this as a gap and designed this programme to make girls interested in STEM. We also equip them with information to set up small businesses, so they know about financial literacy and human resource management,” she said.
She added that the hub has shelters where some of the girls can be accommodated during the week to curb transport or distance issues.
Explaining the selection criteria, she said it is open to young girls between 18 to 24 years old, who fall in the vulnerability index of Nigeria.
According to her, the first batch of training in September 2023 had more than 100 applications, adding that out of the 30 selected, the cohort ended with 17 adolescent girls.
“The graduation ceremony represents a significant milestone for our participants, offering them the opportunity to showcase the outstanding work they have completed during their training,” Oyeledun said.
A Professor of Law at the University of Lagos, Ayodele Atsenuwa, stressed on the need for confidence building to make the girls take advantage of the diverse opportunities available.
She said that to scale up the skills of the students, the university would assist the girls with entrepreneurship training that would equip them with the skills and know how to grow and sustain businesses.
“We would also begin to look into things like referral opportunities and job offers for the students,” she added. One of the beneficiaries, Abigail Osuji, who expressed excitement for the learning experience, said she heard about coding from friends where she gained knowledge on front-end coding.
