W.TEC Academy Moves to Bridge Gender Gap with STEM Skills

Stories by Agnes Ekebuilke

In celebration of the 2025 International Girls in ICT Day, the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) hosted a technology event at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, where it stressed the need to bridge gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). 

The event brought together over 200 secondary school girls from 10 schools on the Lagos Mainland, who are members of the W.TEC Academy, an after-school tech club aimed at equipping girls with essential digital and STEM skills.

The event featured project demonstrations, panel sessions, and motivational talks, underscoring the growing impact of girls in tech. Students from Lagos, Ondo, and Kwara states dazzled the audience with innovative technology projects addressing real-world challenges.

In her keynote address, Founder/Executive Director of W.TEC, Mrs. Oreoluwa Lesi, emphasised the need to bridge the gender gap in STEM. “Only 2 out of 10 roles in STEM fields are occupied by women. This lack of diversity means we are missing unique perspectives that women bring to problem-solving through science and technology,” Lesi noted.