Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Mr Khalil Suleiman Halilu, has said the agency would double the number of female engineers in Nigeria over the next five years.
The EVC/CEO stated this recently at NASENI headquarters, Abuja, during the official launch of ‘Developing Engineering Leaders Through Her’ (DELT-Her), an event which also coincided with the global commemoration of International Women’s Day (IWD).
DELT-Her, according to Halilu, is an initiative, a subset of Delta-2 programme, floated to close the gender gap in engineering practice in the country, inspire the next generation of female engineers, provide financing support for new ideas and projects, translating them into viable businesses and ultimately to strengthen the entire engineering ecosystem.
Halilu said, “DELT-Her is what I call an opportunity platform through which girls and young women can pitch and present their exciting and groundbreaking engineering ideas for funding by NASENI through our collaboration with the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT).
“DELT-Her seeks to correct the imbalance in practice and enterprise development, by focusing attention and funding on young women and creating and cultivating public awareness around the need to train and mentor more women into the engineering profession.
According to him, what this should ideally mean is that women should make up half of all professional spaces in the country, which, at the moment, is far from reality.
“The global average for female representation in engineering is 28 percent. In Nigeria, it is only five per cent; only one in 20 Nigerian engineers is a woman. This awareness component of the work is one that we will take very seriously, working through schools and storytelling campaigns.
“We intend to, through DELT-HER, double the number of female engineers in Nigeria over the next five years. This will mean working extensively at the level of secondary education, which is where young girls make the vital decisions regarding choice of professional field,” he said.
In his welcome address, Chairman, PICTT, Dr Mohammed Dahiru, said, “The committee, through continuous support of NASENI, is determined to fund innovative and commercially viable ideas in engineering and technology-oriented proposals by women.
“Therefore, today’s launch of call for proposals from young women marks the beginning of a chain of events which are expected to lead to engineering start-up companies owned and run by women.”
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