TECHDIGEST – In 2016, the Centre of Information Technology and Development (CITAD) conducted research on access to and use of the internet by society and found that women were largely left behind in terms of both use and benefits of the internet. The result of that research was published in a book entitled “INTERNET FOR MEN? The Digital Marginalization of women in Northern Nigeria”, available at here

We followed this with consultations with several stakeholders across the country on how to address the marginalization of women in the digital space. These consultations culminated in the publication of a model National Gender Inclusion Agenda in 2018, here

Since then, CITAD has been consistently campaigning and calling on the government to articulate a national gender digital inclusion agenda to address the glaring digital marginalization of women. 

READ ALSO: NITDA, Uniccorn Sign MOU To Promote Indigenous Technologies

It was this campaign that led to working with the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum Team to institute the convening of the annual Women Internet Government Forum as a special pre-event of the National IGF at which issues pertaining to women and internet, and in particular, their inclusion in policy making of the digital space, are discussed with a view to ending the gender digital divide in the country. 

While progress has been made in raising awareness as well as in understanding the key driving factors for the persistence of this gender digital divide, there had been no systematic and policy-based response by the government to tackle this serious development problem. 

It is this respect that we welcome the announcement by Mr.  Kashifu Inuwa, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) of the government’s Gender Digital Inclusion Strategy (DGIS). 

The announcement was made at the United Nations International Women’s Day celebration organized by FGN Women Ambassadors Network (FWAN-NET) in Abuja. While we await to see the full contents of the strategy, we commend NITDA for finally seeing the wisdom in having a strategy that can address the various ramifications of gender digital divide in the country. 

We hope that the contents of the Strategy document will be speedily make public and all necessary mechanisms, resources and plans for its full implementation be put in place. 

We also hope that implementation will be driven by wide consultations and engagements of stakeholders, especially women groups in the country. 

We urge for purposeful and diligent implementation that is backed by rigorous and robust monitoring plan to ensure that progress is being tracked and challenges on the way are appropriately addressed. 

CITAD finally commends the visionary leadership of both the Director-General of NITDA and the Minister of Digital Economy and Communication for the foresight in recording this national milestone for digital gender justice in Nigeria.

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TECHDIGEST – Digital rights and inclusion is an issue that doesn’t get discussed enough. Yet, with the way things are currently going, it has the potential to become a much bigger problem in the future. And as someone who is passionate about technology and its ability to help people and businesses, this concerns me.

There are many ways that digital rights and inclusion can be addressed in business, but there is also something special about doing so when you’re operating in Nigeria. The country has been hit with a lot of unfair reputations that have held it back for far too long. By addressing this topic from a Nigerian perspective, companies will not only be doing something good but also taking advantage of a unique opportunity to grow their businesses.

READ ALSO: Finally, NITDA Issues Code of Practice for Online Platforms Operating in Nigeria

Below are five reasons why your business should make digital rights and inclusion a priority in Africa if you’re operating there or plan on expanding into the region soon.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Make Digital Rights and Inclusion a Priority in Nigeria:

Digital Rights and Inclusion is Complimentary for Business

It’s important to understand that digital rights and inclusion are not just something that you should do because it’s the right thing to do. It’s something that you should do because it is complimentary for business. There are many reasons why this is true, but one of the most important is that digital inclusion can help you better understand the needs of your customers.

This can lead to more effective management, more targeted products and services, and more data for strategy. Therefore, the more you know about what people in your community need, the better your company will be able to meet those needs and, therefore, increase its bottom line. The more you can do to encourage people and organizations to use technology, the more you’ll see it become an integral part of life and business in Nigeria. This will, in turn, lead to more and better business opportunities. By being at the forefront of digital inclusion, your company will be better equipped to take advantage of these opportunities because it will have better insight into them. This can, therefore, lead to more growth and success for your business.

An Opportunity to Grow Your Company’s Reputation

As mentioned above, there are many reasons why digital rights and inclusion are good for business. Yet, there’s also a significant amount of reputational benefit that can come from the. By promoting digital rights, you are putting yourself in a position to take control of the narrative around your industry and the role your company plays in it. This is something that is particularly important if you’re operating in Nigeria because you’ll have the chance to break many of the unfair stereotypes that have plagued the nation’s digital ecosystem. By promoting digital rights and inclusion, you can show the world that your company is committed to serving the needs of all people and helping Nigeria catch up with the rest of the world. This can, in turn, lead to greater trust from prospective global customers and clients and, subsequently, more business opportunities in forms of partnerships for expansion.

Commitment to Having an Equal Footing in Nigeria

While it might seem as though digital rights and inclusion are things that only global partners and governments need to be aware of, the reality is that your clients and competitors should be aware too. Nigerians need access to the same technologies, services, and opportunities that people in the rest of the world have. If your company doesn’t provide digital rights, equalities and equities, then your employees are being negatively impacted and you’re missing out on talent that could otherwise be available to you. By addressing digital gender equality and including people with disabilities and special abilities, you can show prospective employees and investors that you are committed to having an equal footing in Nigeria, Africa and globally.

By Promoting Inclusion, You Can Help More People Become Employable

In addition to helping Nigerians get the technology that they need and giving them the opportunity to get jobs and start businesses, digital rights and inclusion can also help more people become employable. By promoting digital rights and inclusion, you can help more people get the education they need to become computer-literate and learn new skills. By promoting digital rights and inclusion, you can help to close the digital divide. This is the gap that exists between those who have access to and proficiency in using technology and those who don’t. Closing the gap is important because it can help Nigerians get the education that they need to get jobs in the 21st century. Including as many people as possible in the digital space can also help Nigerians to continue leading Africa’s Tech ecosystem.

Digital Rights and Inclusion can Help Increase the Quality of Life of Nigerians

There are many ways that digital rights and inclusion can help increase the quality of life for Nigerians. For starters, by promoting digital rights and inclusion, you can help people get the healthcare services that they need and deserve. You can also help people better communicate with loved ones through video and audio communication. You can also help people travel more efficiently by using online transportation booking services and other technologies. Additionally, by promoting digital rights and inclusion, you can help Nigerians learn about and protect the environment. You can help people become more financially secure thus improving the economy. You can also help improve education and access to information.

Isa Ali Musa,
Policy Fellow, Nigerian Global Affairs Council
Abuja, Nigeria.

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TECHDIGEST – Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a Pan-African social enterprise is set to host a series of digital rights advocacy sessions dubbed Digi-Talks with Focus across 10 African countries using its short film Focus, a visual representation of its 2020 annual report LONDA that highlights digital rights and inclusion infractions in 20 African countries.

The Digi-Talks with Focus, according to Valery Njiaba | Communications Officer | Paradigm Initiative, will run between February 15th and March 7th, 2022, in Cameroon, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia.

“It will feature the screening of Focus, a look at the findings of the Londa report, an open conversation on the state of digital rights and inclusion, questions and answers, and debates aimed at enhancing digital rights in all the host countries.

“Paradigm Initiative will convene these sessions with local partners in each country bringing together diverse audiences over half a day”, he said.

The sessions, TechEconomy.ng gathered, will also provide opportunities for engaging conversations and to make key recommendations to enhance digital rights on the continent.

To enhance digital rights and combat online violations in Africa, PIN will be presenting its tools of impact such as ripoti.africa a platform that enables online users to report digital rights violations in Africa including breaches of online privacy, and ayeta.africa a toolkit for African digital rights actors aimed at addressing the growing need to safeguard activists, journalists, whistleblowers, and others working with sensitive information in the global South.

Paradigm Initiative is a Pan-African social enterprise that works to connect underserved young Africans with digital opportunities and ensures the protection of their rights.

Across its regional offices in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and beyond, Paradigm Initiative works to connect underserved African youth with improved livelihoods through digital inclusion and digital rights programs.

Source : Techeconomy.ng

Link:https://techeconomy.ng/2022/02/paradigm-initiative-set-to-host-digi-talks-with-focus-to-advocate-for-digital-rights/

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TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has reaffirmed its readiness to organize innovation challenge for people to generate ideas towards creation of applications that will enrich the wellbeing of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi, Director-General of NITDA, stated this when the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, NCPWD, James Lalu, and his team visited him at the Agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

Abdullahi pledged that the Agency will continue to provide digital literacy and skills to PWDs, to ensure the implementation of equal opportunities and promotion of digital inclusion.

He noted that the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders, especially NCPWD, would help to speed up the campaign of promoting digital inclusion for vulnerable members of the society.

“Building a digitally inclusive community requires participation and support from all stakeholders, and partnership with the NCPWD would accelerate the campaign of promoting digital inclusion. We can work together to design special initiatives that would expand the impact of the two organizations.”

“We can organize a challenge where people would come up with ideas to create a disability-friendly application. It would be an enabler that could assist in optimizing the best technology to meet identified objectives.”

“Your commission can work towards building a special IT hub while NITDA provides the technical know-how and necessary tools,” Abdullahi added.

The NITDA DG informed the visiting team that the Agency has opened a link where PLWDs in South-South Zone can register for a five-day empowerment program on digital skills and entrepreneurship to hold in Port Harcourt from the 24th till 28th January 2022.

Responding, the Executive Secretary, James Lalu, while commending NITDA for its efforts in promoting digital inclusion among PWDs, also solicited for extension of training periods, curriculum, and the need for experts and training facilitators at the eLearning Training Centre to work in collaboration with the aim of developing a robust website.

The meeting agreed on setting up a team comprising staff of both organizations to work out modalities and possible areas of collaboration.
 

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TECH DIGEST – E-Settlement Limited, a financial technology (Fintech) firm has restated its commitment to ensuring that the country’s financial inclusion drive gets to the nooks and crannies of the country, through its massive deployment of agents in rural areas.

The firm said it would work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to bring innovations, in line with the apex bank’s directives on cashless economy.

The Chief Operating Officer of E-Settlement Limited, Lolade Akinsete, who gave the assurance, said the firm had been repositioned to change the way Nigerians transact with a bouquet of world-class products that would make transactions easier, seamless and secured.

Speaking on the need to address the financial inclusion challenges in the country, she said: “We are a financial technology company with solutions tailored to solve financial problems through the use of Information Technology (IT). E-Settlement Limited is an independent, private sector led-limited liability company located in Lagos, with a focus on providing innovative, dependable, easy-to-use, affordable and secure payment solutions to everyday financial problems in Africa.”

On the Paycentre solution, Akinsete added that “Paycentre is a financial inclusion solution that provides some banking hall services outside of the brick bank especially in underserved and unbanked communities. Paycentre also aims to be a lifestyle solution with bill payment features ranging from airtime, to cable and also electricity. Paycentre aims to provide everyday needs for funds without you having to visit a bank. The PayCentre Web and Mobile app grants you the freedom to receive and provide banking hall services by offering you the best agency banking solution in Africa.

Our easy-to-use platform grants you total control and insight into your business performance”

In the area of deploying other innovative solutions such as PayPad, she described Paypad as a merchant solution and is only card present.

“It is your regular POS but ours is mPOS, where the merchant/shop owner has an application and can input the cost of the item bought on the app and the mPOS serves as a card reader. Interesting fact, Paycentre was born out of the Paypad solution. Paypad is an mPOS solution that enables businesses receive payments via a smart phone. PayPad grants its users access to functions such as e-marketing, smart printing, sales analytics, payment acceptance, seamless integration, multi-location support, invoice and order issuance,” she said.

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TECH DIGEST – The UK Government’s Prosperity Fund’s Digital Access Programme and Greenfields Law, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are set to host a Technical Conference on Bridging the Digital divide for Underserved or Unserved Communities and Persons Living with Disabilities in a COVID-19 Context in Nigeria.

The virtual conference which is scheduled to hold March 11, 2021 will feature a presentation to the stakeholders of findings and recommendations from the diagnostic study on the impact of the Digital Divide on underserved or unserved communities and persons living with disabilities during the persisting Covid-19 pandemic, which was commissioned under the UK Government Prosperity Fund’s Digital Access Programme and undertaken by Greenfields Law.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the British Deputy High Commissioner, state governors, local government officials and chief executive officers of telecommunications companies, civil society organizations and consumers are among the stakeholders expected to participate at the technical conference.

According to Osondu C. Nwokoro, the managing counsel of Greenfields Law and a leading telecommunications policy, law and regulation practitioner, “the study was guided by extant national and international constitutional, legal, policy and regulatory provisions.

Valuable information was garnered from women and girls, unemployed youth, persons living with disabilities in urban, peri-urban and rural areas from all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, civil society organizations, telecommunications service providers, the regulators and policy making agencies of government at various levels.

From this process, Nwokoro said, the information gathered was utilized to develop pragmatic Nigeria-specific solutions towards bridging the digital gap between the underserved/unserved communities and PLWDs and other vulnerable segments of the society and to facilitate their digital inclusion during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic which has significantly irreversibly altered the usual mode of socio-economic engagements.

The overarching essence of the study, he also said, was to aid the attainment of the aspirations of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, 2019 and the National Broadband Plan, 2020-2025. Nwokoro also thanked the UK Government for continuing to play a key role in supporting Nigeria’s digital sector and inclusive economic growth and sustainability.

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