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  • Tech - News
  • Updated: March 15, 2023

NGO Urges Government To Organise Digital Training For Market Women

NGO Urges Government To Organise Digital Training For Market

A non-governmental organisation, Women Liberation and Transformation Group (W-LIT) has requested the state government to organise more digital training programmes to educate women and support their enterprises.

The call was made on Wednesday at a gathering of market women in Ayobo/Ipaja, Lagos, to commemorate the 2023 International Women's Day by W-Executive LIT's Director, Olanike Mic-Taiwo (IWD).

The 2023 IWD has the theme: “Digital Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”.

The meeting, which was sub-financed by the Women Advocate Research and Documentation Center (WARDC), was reportedly supported by the Ford Foundation, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

She said that developing digital skills would benefit their online enterprises as well as assist them in handling crises like the current cash shortage problems in Nigeria.

According to Mic-Taiwo, the country's present cashless policy is a call for businesswomen to embrace technology.

"I appreciate the cashless policy being implemented in Nigeria as a result of the cash shortage; rather than being a setback, it is a chance for businesswomen to develop both their personal and professional technology capabilities.

“If we have been practising the cashless policy before now and everyone in the chain of business transactions is technologically upgraded, we will not be complaining about a reduction in sales and transportation while other hardships won’t arise.

“Also, if the cashless policy has long been embraced, banks would have tackled inconsistent network issues and online bank transactions would have been seamless, “she said.

To help market women succeed with the cashless policy, she continued, banks could provide POS devices and allow them to pay in instalments.

In order to better secure their company accounts, Taiwo advised the market women to obtain bank tokens. 

She also advised them to keep their personal and commercial accounts separate.

When discussing the use of online spaces, she suggested that women look into social media to grow their enterprises, adding that they could use it to further publicise their goods to a wide audience.

The executive director also discussed how social media platforms may be used to report crimes more quickly and covertly, record voice notes, share videos, and generally lessen gender-based violence.

One of the participants, Felicia Isijola, who sells fabrics, said in a separate interview with NAN that it was in fact vital to use technology to advance their businesses.

She stated that many people were caught off guard by the Naira shortage because the cashless policy was unusual and had decreased sales.

She said, however, that many of them had been inspired to register bank accounts in order to do business and sell things via online banking.

Isijola noted that the transportation system does not accept bank transfers, which makes the delivery of products challenging under the cashless policy.

She pleaded with the government to fix Nigeria's transportation management systems so that online bank transfers could be used to pay for services rendered.

Another participant, Adejoke Salisu, stated that since most individuals utilise online bank transfers to pay for their purchases, the cashless policy has helped lower the market's debt rate.

Nonetheless, she asserted that the issue of bogus warnings and a lack of digital literacy were the main reasons why the majority of traders did not approve of online banking.

Salisu asked the government of Lagos State to consider the needs of rural women so that they may use digital technology to promote their enterprises and enhance their standard of living.

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