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Making Digital Skills Meaningful to Girls and Women: A Journey to a Difficult Handshake and Conversation

Published

3 years ago

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Malam YZ Yau

 

By Y. Z. Ya’u, CITAD

While discussing with participants of the Digital Livelihood for rural women and girls conducted by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in Itas, Itas-Gadau Local Government of Bauchi State. I was taken aback by the repeated celebration of digital systems as capable of providing jobs at home for women.

The aspect was that the potential for women to work from home is culturally non-disruptive and should be welcome. Most of the girls were happy with this. The training of film and video editing as well as digital photography in particular seemed to excite the girls more than anything. Some of them opined that with the cultural practice of having men celebrating weddings for example outside the house and women inside the country, women or girls who are skilled on film and video editing as well as photography could find ready-made market,
I can understand this as the girls live in the context in which the horizon of most girls is clouded by the ABU syndrome and all that all aspire to quickly get married and raise children. Independent means of livelihood comes a distant priority. The first time I came across the ABU was angry, why should all the girls want to go to ABU and not Bayero University, Kano. the university I was lecturing. My ignorance was revealed when one of them explained that ABU did not stand for Ahmadu Bello University but Aure Bautar Ubangiji (Hausa, loosely meaning “Marriage is a Worship of Allah”). For many of these girls, the first instinctive gut was that digital skills will enhance their marriage. Which is good in itself.

However, as the training continued to unfold, they began to imagine a different way of using their skills. Some see it as a means to improve their education, update and move to higher institution of learning. Some saw a window of venturing out into professions that they ordinarily consider outside their reach. For example, 22-year old Bilkisu Gambo Idris of Itas Local Government Area of Bauchi State explained that having learn a number different aspects of digital skills including website design, Coreldraw and Online Marketing, plans starts that her dream is to start an online business but due to the lack of capital is yet to start but the training encouraged and inspired her to further her education to the advanced level.

Hauwa Baffa Sulaiman of Itas community, aged 20 years described the training as an eye opener and the essence of her life because now she has started advertising her make-up business on the Internet especially Facebook and Instagram pages. Fauziyya Yakubu age 23, from Jamaare is now using social media platforms to advertise her digital skills to train other women at home. She has found an add up way of addressing the gender digital divide by driving digital skill lessons into the homes that were initially a block against further learning.
In the end, they came to accept digital skills not just as something that will make them better wives but also make them better human beings and living a meaningful and productive life. However, it will seem that in this logic, the emancipatory aspect of digital skill is undermined and subverted and re-directed by a patriarchal conditioning, making the question pertinent: is digital skills enough to address the economic and political marginality of women?

Clearly, women are politically excluded in the country. But more than even patriarchal control, the main factor for this is the economic marginalization of the women.

Women are relatively poorer than men and constitute the largest number of those living under the poverty line. It is for this reason that some researchers have referred to poverty as having a feminine face in Nigeria.

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If the economic status of women can be improved, they will be able to engage as equal actors in the political realm and thus be in a position to address some of policies and practices that continue to hold them down. The poor economic condition of women has meant that they have a low affordability index for digital access.

Addressing the economic marginality is important to addressing the gender digital divide in the country. However, while it is a necessary condition, it is not a sufficient one.

The digital divide is not just about access and empowering women economically while important will not in itself solve the digital marginalization of women. And while skill is an important enabler, it too is not enough.

To deal with the gender digital divide in a subversive manner, we need to deconstruct cultural norms that inhibit the effective use of the digital technology by women. Surprisingly, the experience from the digital livelihood program shows a less controversial path in which two things worked out well.

First, men did not feel threatened by their daughters and spouses learning digital skills that will make them better partners to their husbands. In other words, seeing the seeming digital skills compatibility with cultural norms of the society makes it easy to break resistance and barriers to learning.

Second, once the learners get emersed, they get their horizon broadened. In this sense, there seem to be a double subversive appropriation of digital technology: first, patriarchy subverted the libertarian impulse of technology to drive it to domesticity.

Having accepted this, the girls then re-subverted this to go beyond domesticity and begin to make effective use of digital technology in ways that go to seed and enhance personal livelihoods for them, thus opening the way for independent means of livelihood and being active economic agents of their own.

Drawing from the above is the inescapable conclusion that bridging the gender digital divide is beyond addressing the four conventional pillars of awareness, availability, accessibility, and affordability. No doubt, we all need to be aware about what digital technology can do in transforming our lives and society before we can make the efforts to embrace it. Embracing it of course requires its availability, which is beyond individual choices or effort we make.

Government in particular has greater role in making digital technology available to the citizens, and particularly, to girls and women. What policies and programmes a government deploys to address availability will invariably play role in addressing affordability, though affordability is also beyond just technology policies because it is signposted by the economic status of the people. Finally, accessibility would include making digital education not just in the privilege colonial language of higher education but also in local languages that citizens speak and engage with so that they can see technology not as something external but as part of daily lived social being and a necessity. That means teaching digital skill in our first languages.

But more than anything, addressing gender digital divide will require an honest handshake across genders. This is because gender digital divide is part of the wider gender development divide and cannot be addressed in isolation of this wider issue. The exclusion of women in the policy spaces and other digital space spaces is not accidental. It is the construction and imagining of these spaces as masculine by patriarchy.

Addressing these requires understanding masculine fear of the internet.

Masculine fear about the internet is rooted in the reaction of men about the communication space that digital systems, particularly the internet have given to women. But it also seen in the fact while men think the internet will expose women to bad influence, they do not think that they too could be exposed to the same bad influence. Within the realms of power discourse, women who engage with the internet are demonized as wayward, of easy virtue and generally as “prostitute”, etc.
The handshake has to bring both men and women into a mutual dialogue on technology. Men and women should work to deconstruct the myths around the internet. Men and women should work together to discuss how the internet is a tool that can help rather than subvert family structures. Ultimately, men and women have to work together to overcome the constraints that patriarchy has placed before women in the use of technology. The handshake is not an easy conversation.

On the part of males, it signals acceptance to give up on some privileges while for women, it requires rethinking of normalized ideas.

The digital livelihood is one example of a handshake, a conversation involving parents, spouses, daughters, and other community gatekeepers. It allowed the fears to be on the table and in an open conversation, not on combating any social norm but on opening spaces for learning for girls to seek self-actualization. We need more of these conversations and handshaking to make substantive progress in closing the gender digital divide and ending gender digital marginalization in the country.

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Opinion

Beyond the Godfather’s Shadow: Why Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf Chose Kano Over a Provincial Presidential Quest

Published

2 days ago

on

January 5, 2026

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​By Kabiru Sani Dogo Maiwanki

​The recent pronouncements by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso regarding Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s strategic political recalibration have finally stripped away the façade, exposing the profound ideological fissures within the NNPP hierarchy. In a caustic address delivered Saturday evening, the Senator characterized the Governor’s newfound autonomy as a “betrayal” of a far more egregious nature than that of his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje. However, in this vitriolic attempt to cast himself as the victim of political infidelity, Kwankwaso inadvertently betrayed a disconcerting truth: he viewed the incumbent administration not as a sovereign executive entity, but as a subordinate instrument of his personal political estate.

​Senator Kwankwaso remarked that, as a presidential hopeful, his fundamental expectation was that the administration he purportedly “installed” would function as a geopolitical centrifuge—a financial and logistical catalyst designed to project the Kwankwasiyya hegemony into neighboring Northwestern territories. He expressed profound chagrin that, over two years into this mandate, the machinery of the Kano State government has not been weaponized to “conquer” even Jigawa State for his political brand. This revelation is remarkably candid; it implies that the Senator’s patronage of the current administration was never rooted in the socio-economic advancement of the Kano populace, but was instead a cynical stratagem to treat the state’s commonwealth as a private war chest for a singular, ego-driven presidential odyssey.

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​By resisting this role, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has committed what Kwankwaso perceives as an unpardonable “sin,” but what objective observers must recognize as a courageous act of institutional integrity. The Governor’s refusal to allow the Kano State treasury to be cannibalized for regional political expansion is a resounding victory for fiscal prudence and administrative transparency. It represents a principled rejection of the archaic practice where public commonwealth is weaponized to bolster the narrow political interests of a singular godfather at the expense of the citizenry.

​The depth of the Senator’s desperation is now laid bare for all to see. In a striking reversal from his usual posture of absolute authority, Kwankwaso has been reduced to making public appeals for reconciliation. His recent plea—openly asking anyone with access to the Governor to “beg him to come back”—reveals a leader who has finally grasped the magnitude of his loss. It is the sound of a man who realizes that the “innocent aide” he once underrated has not only secured his independence but has taken the soul of the movement with him.

​It is therefore essential for Kwankwaso and other political leaders who pride themselves on their political stature to realize that there is a limit to how long they can continue to deceive and exploit their followers. Respect must be reciprocal; whether between a leader and the led, there is a definitive limit to the amount of insult, manipulation, and contempt any person can endure.

Whenever you push a supporter to the brink and their patience finally runs out, the consequences of their anger will certainly be unpleasant for those in power.
​For the well-meaning people of Kano, this is a moment to offer unalloyed commendation. Governor Abba deserves praise for his steadfastness in protecting the state’s allocations and for prioritizing the welfare of the masses over the expansionist agenda of a political empire. Abba Kabir Yusuf has chosen to be the custodian of the people’s trust rather than a puppet for personal ambition, and in doing so, he has redefined the essence of leadership in Kano.

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Opinion

From Zamfara roots to national vision: Aliyu Muhammad Adamu, seasoned media leader, returns home to serve his people.”

Published

2 days ago

on

January 4, 2026

By

 

Aliyu Muhammad Adamu was born on 29th December 1982 in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, into the respected Adamu Joji family.

He hails from a lineage that includes notable family members such as Alhaji Sanda Adamu Tsafe (Sarkin Yakin Tsafe), Alhaji Aliyu Adamu (Danmadami), Alhaji Sani Adamu, Hajiya Khadija Adamu (Gwoggo Dala), and Hajiya Amina, among others.

His father, Muhammad Adamu (popularly known as Nata’ala), later relocated to Kano State in pursuit of business expansion. As a result, Aliyu and his siblings were raised in Kano, where he began his early education at Da’awa Primary School, Kano.

Driven by a strong connection to his roots, Aliyu returned to Zamfara State for his secondary education, attending Unity Secondary School, Gummi. He subsequently gained admission into Bayero University, Kano (BUK), where he obtained both his Diploma and Bachelor’s Degree, graduating in 2010.

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After completing his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Aliyu faced the realities of life with resilience and determination, navigating through challenges that shaped his character and leadership capacity. In 2014, he returned to Zamfara State and began his professional career in the media industry with Gamji Television and Radio.

Through dedication, hard work, and professional excellence, he served the organization for nearly ten years, rising through the ranks to become the General Manager of the station, an achievement that underscored his leadership, administrative competence, and commitment to public communication.

In 2023, Aliyu voluntarily resigned from the media organization and relocated to Kano State in pursuit of broader opportunities and personal development. Today, driven by a renewed sense of purpose and a lifelong commitment to his people, Aliyu Muhammad Adamu is preparing to return to his hometown to seek the support and mandate of his people. His aspiration is to represent our parents, brothers, and sisters at the federal level, with a clear vision of contributing meaningfully to the development, unity, and overall progress of Zamfara State.

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Opinion

Opinion:The Anatomy Of A Hoax- Setting The Record Straight On Governor Abba Yusuf

Published

3 days ago

on

January 4, 2026

By

 

 

​By Ahmed Badamasi Tsaure

​The recent wave of political “scoops” regarding the purported defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has moved beyond mere speculation into a coordinated campaign of character assassination. Most notably, reports by Daily Nigerian claiming the Governor’s move was “postponed” are masterpieces of fiction, designed to paint a sitting Governor as indecisive and subordinate. As a witness to the political realities in Kano, I find it necessary to dismantle these fallacies with the facts that the purveyors of this rumor have conveniently ignored. In Nigerian politics, defection is a statutory process requiring a formal resignation from one’s current party. To date, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has not submitted any resignation from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). To claim that a “finalized arrangement” for a Monday registration existed is a procedural hallucination; one cannot join a new house without first stepping out of the old one.
​Furthermore, the narrative suggests the Governor’s plans were shelved because he failed to seek the “blessings” of local APC bigwigs. This is a laughable distortion of executive power. History is replete with Governors who defected based on executive conviction without the interference of local APC “big wigs.” We have seen this with the Governor of Delta vs. Senator Omo-Agege, the Governor of Bayelsa vs. David Lyon and Minister Heineken Lokpobiri, the Governor of Rivers vs. Nyesom Wike, and the Governor of Plateau vs. the current National Chairman of the APC. More recently, the defections of Governors like Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ben Ayade (Cross River), and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) proved that when a Governor moves, he does so as the new leader of the party in his state. It is also historically hypocritical to label such a move as “betrayal.” When Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso defected from the PDP to the APC in 2013, he did not seek permission from any person or leadership—he led a rebellion based on his own conviction. If it was “principled politics” for the godfather then, it cannot be “betrayal” for the Governor now.

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​What, then, remains for a Governor who already holds the overwhelming mandate of his people? It is a known fact that Governor Abba Yusuf moves with the ironclad support of almost 95% of the Kano State House of Assembly, 50% of the National Assembly members from the state, all 44 Local Government chairmen, and the entire grassroots party structure. The desperate attempt by the NNPP National Working Committee to dissolve the Kano executive committees is a futile, “too-late” maneuver that only confirms their loss of control. When a Governor commands such total loyalty, he does not ask for permission; he leads. The defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf is inevitable if he so wishes, as he carries the entire political soul of Kano with him.
​The theory that the APC postponed this move because Senator Kwankwaso is not coming along simply does not hold water. Kwankwaso’s refusal to join the APC is a settled matter; it is alleged the President offered him a ministerial position or the Chairmanship of the soon-to-be resuscitated Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), both of which he rejected after his demand to join the Presidential ticket was denied. Using this stalemate as a pretext for the Governor’s “indecision” is a transparent lie aimed at making the Governor look like a political appendage. It is disheartening to see Daily Nigerian abandon objective journalism to frame the Governor as a “betrayer.” If Governor Abba Yusuf chooses to move, he does so as a leader of a massive political movement. The media must stop concocting stories to mislead the public. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf remains focused on his mandate. These rumors are merely the desperate gasps of those who wish to see Kano in perpetual turmoil.

​Ahmed Badamasi Tsaure writes from Shanono Local Government, Kano State. He can be reached at ahmedtsaure28@gmail.com.

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