The Wiki-media Foundation has trained eleven women journalists, alongside some selected women in Kaduna State, on Hausa wiki-quote as part of the Wiki Loves Women programme, ‘#shesaid’.

In his remarks during the training on Saturday, Kaduna, the coordinator of Wiki-media Northern Nigeria, Bashir Yahusa, said that the programme was aimed at educating women on how to amplify their voices through wiki- media, a social media platform.

According to him, ICT is one of the fastest means of communication and interaction, hence the need for women, particularly those in the north, to maximise its usage.

Mr Yahusa also lamented that there were fewer Northern women participating in wiki-media, adding that there is a need to motivate them to be more involved and lend their voices on important issues.

He said that Wikipedia messages were being disseminated in various languages across the globe, saying, ‘but in Nigeria, the languages used are Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba while some local languages are coming on board.”

Mr Yahusa said that Wikipedia was introduced in 2001 as a platform to share knowledge to the world for people who were less privileged to also have access to free information.

On her part, the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ ) secretary, Zone A, Daharatu Ahmed, said that the training was apt as women in the north needed to catch up with the global trends.

In a separate interview, some participants, including the chairperson of the association, Kaduna State Council, Fatima Aliyu and the coordinator, Jam’iyyar Matan Arewa, Fatima Ahmed, promised to cascade the knowledge gained to their women groups.

The participants were drawn from NAWOJ, National Council of Women’s Societies, Jam’ iyyar Matan Arewa and Women in Politics Forum, among others.

(NAN)