In order to address gender imbalances in the practice, including, growth in technology and engineering enterprise in the country, the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) tomorrow will launch an initiative under the Delta-2 project aimed at positively tackling this issue.
Beginning with a Call for Proposals holding today, March 8, the programme targets support for women, who have innovative and commercially viable ideas in engineering, with resources that would take their ideas to the marketplace, making the Nigeria engineering practice becomes more inclusive and better poised to contribute to Nigeria’s economy.
The President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), who is the first female president of the engineering body, Margaret Aina Oguntala is keynote Speaker at the Launch of Call for Proposals event, holding at the Technology Orientation Centre (TOC) NASENI headquarters, Abuja.
The initiative, named: “Developing The Emgineering Leaders Through Her-(DELT-HER), aims not only to bridge the gender gap in Technology and Engineering practices in Nigeria, but also hopes to foster a more inclusive and diverse engineering practice landscape, especially opportunities for young girls and women in the industry. According to the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Khalil Suleiman Halilu, part of the objectives of the initiative is to build a collaborative network of diverse stakeholders including tertiary institutions, business and industry leaders which align perfectly with the mandate of the agency.
Also significant is that the official launch of the DELT-HER initiative and call for proposal this Friday coincides with the global commemoration of the 2024 International Women’s Day, thereby serving as a wake-up call for women and girls to seize the opportunity to empower themselves through this programme.
The Chairman of PICTT, Dr. Mohammed Dahiru, said the desire of PICTT and NASENI is for the women folks to be empowered the most, and to continue their effective contributions to national development. “When this programme is accomplished, the home-front and the families will be strengthened, which is one of the attributes of good governance, and also a positive outcome of the renewed hope agenda of the present administration”, he added.
