NAN-H-58
Commitment
Isaac Aregbesola
Abuja, June 1, 2017 (NAN) United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stuart Symington, said his country was committed to capacity-building and positive contributions for women through science, technology and mathematics in Nigeria.
A statement by U.S. Embassy on Thursday in Abuja said that Symington made this known prior to screening of a movie -“Hidden Figures’’ at Genesis Cinemas, Abuja, in honour of Nigerian Tech-Women.
In the statement, he described Nigerian women as highly talented like their American counterparts.
He said that Tech-Women was a U.S. initiative, empowering and connecting the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
“The programme will bring together 100 women leaders in technology fields for a five-week professional mentorship and exchange programme at leading technology companies in California’s Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
“ In March this year, the U.S. Embassy screened the movie Code Girl, an American documentary film that featured the story of five Nigerian girls who won the Technovation Challenge in 2015,” Symigton said.
He said that `Hidden Figures` detailed the story of three female African-American mathematicians employed by NASA in the 1960s.
“Working as human computers, but denied recognition or promotion, they went ahead to play crucial roles in the American space programme.
“It is an amazing story of women who found something that they loved, and before computers and the Internet, these women made it possible to put the human race in outer space,” he said.
The envoy assured the five Nigerian women selected to participate in the 2017 TechWomen exchange programme that they also could reach the skies.
He listed the participants as Carolyn Seaman, who is using technology to empower girls through her Girls Voices Initiative and Damilola Anwo-Ade, mentoring the next generation of coders through her CodeIT.
Others, according to him, are Olamide Ayeni-Babajide, Ijeoma Vincent-Akpu and Petra Nnamani. (NAN)
IAA/JIE/OPI
Edited by Julius Enehikhuere and Olisa Ifeajika