The Young Communicators Initiative on Tuesday in Abuja sought NAN’s partnership and media support for its Vision 2035 AI-Athon scheduled for October.
The group’s founder, Mrs Chinenye Anamena, made the appeal when she led her team on a courtesy visit to the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Malam Ali M. Ali.
Anamena, who is also the Executive Director of the initiative, said the programme, scheduled for Oct. 8 and 9 would feature a digital leadership workshop and speech contest for female prefects in secondary schools.
She said Ali had been selected to deliver the keynote at the event.
She also said that the initiative was aimed at equipping young girls with digital and leadership skills while preparing them to contribute meaningfully to national development.
According to her, it is unfortunate that Nigerian women’s participation in top leadership level had declined in recent years.
She cited the drop in the number of female national legislators from 27 in 8th Assembly to 17 in the 10th Assembly as wake up to groom more girls for leadership roles in the future.
According to her, Nigeria’s ranking of 143rd out of 145 countries in the World Economic Forum’s assessment of women’s leadership highlights the need for greater investment in developing female leaders.
She, therefore, appealed to NAN to collaborate with the initiative and support the programme through its platforms to ensure wider visibility and impact.
Responding, Ali welcomed the initiative and commended Anamena for her passion and commitment to empowering the girl-child.
He assured the delegation that NAN would deploy its platforms to publicise and cover the programme, saying the agency would consider other areas of the proposed collaboration.
Ali also expressed optimism that the initiative would contribute to developing the leadership capacity of girls and promoting their participation in national development. (NAN)
