Speaking at the event held in Lagos, Mercy George-Igbafe, the founder of LEARNTOR Foundation, warned that society risks “sitting on a ticking time bomb” if the challenges facing the boy child continue to be ignored.

 “The rate of autism, unemployment, and cybercrime is happening more among boys. Sadly, while the girl child is being empowered, the boy child is being left behind, and they are growing up to marry these empowered girls. If we fail to intervene, we will keep raising young men who are economically unviable or prone to social vices,” she said.

The initiative, which runs in six-month cycles, has already trained 5,000 boys across 16 schools, with 500 joining online learning sessions.

About 150 boys and their teachers recently gathered for practical training in Excel and bookkeeping, after which they will proceed to internships with local businesses.

According to George-Igbafe, the programme is not just about digital literacy but about reshaping lives:

“We’re not going to stop. This is more than training, it’s a passion of love. These boys are learning to add value to the economy, contribute to their communities, and ultimately grow into responsible men.”

The ‘Tech for Boys’ initiative enjoys the support of the Public Service Staff Development Centre (PSSDC), which provided facilities, as well as the Lagos State Government, which granted access to schools. However, much of the funding has come from individual sacrifices.

“I even had to sell my laptop. Some individuals contribute in small ways, like paying for food for the boys. It’s not because we have deep pockets, but by God’s mercy, it has been possible,” George-Igbafe revealed.

She issued a strong call for broader support from corporate organisations, NGOs, and government agencies:

“We want brands and partners to say Yes to Tech and No to Crime. Let’s raise men who can use technology to create legitimate wealth, not cybercrime. We cannot do this alone.”

The foundation is also considering future collaboration with the EFCC, not just to punish offenders but to rehabilitate young boys through education and empowerment.

Feedback from schools has been mixed, with some enthusiastic and others skeptical due to past experiences with NGOs. Still, George-Igbafe believes the impact is clear, and demand is growing.

Currently, 7,000 boys are waiting to be trained across Lagos State’s six education districts, with only a fraction covered so far.

“We’ve only just started with District 1. Lagos has over 13,000 boys in that zone alone. Our vision is to go across all districts. The work is enormous, but the future of our boys, and our society, depends on it,” she affirmed.

Photos from the Tech-Up Boys Boot Camp Cohort 2 & Graduation Ceremony:

The 3-day conference themed: ‘Uniting & Transforming Africa across Agile’ will be hosted in three languages – French, Portuguese and English.

The Conference is dedicated to creating awareness, exploring innovative opportunities for Africans by advancing Agile values and principles, and creating a safe space for networking, developing new skills, sharing ideas, and flourishing together.

It also hopes to foster equality and inclusion in the agile community as well as create awareness and explore innovative opportunities for Africans by advancing Agile values and principles, and creating a safe space for networking and skills development.

Speaking about the upcoming conference, Mercy George-Igbafe, the Convener of Women in Agile Africa Conference/founder of LEARNTOR said the goal of the conference is to open up the market to Africans so as to enable them plug into the opportunity that is out there.

She added that the Women in Agile Africa conference aims to bridge the digital gap especially for women in Africa.

According to her, “We want to amplify International Finance Corporation (IFC) 2019 reports that 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa would require digital skills by 2030”.

“But there are not people skilled enough for the job. The UK government has opened up their borders. But do you know the kind of jobs that they are recruiting for, are people that have tech skills.

“So if you’re not tech savvy, you already have a challenge before you and that’s why women need agile. I am the convener for the women in Agile Africa conference. I’m on the board of women in Agile, and I’m the founder of Learntor. So it just aligned succinctly into what Learntor is about to bridge the digital skill gap in Africa, for especially women and encouraging young people to be part of it”.

Bisi Alimi, Business Analyst with LEARNTOR, said that the world is now in times where changes in technology around the world have demanded a lot of skills.

“A lot of us are engaging with technologies that we never used four, five years ago but literally now with technology something keeps on changing every year that was not available five years ago.

“Look at Uber, Airbnb who thought about that? It shows that technology is diversifying every day and it keeps on evolving every day. And as this technology evolves, if we as people do not have the capacity, we do not have the skill we cannot fit in.

“That means we’ll be playing catch up with the world as it is now in Africa. A lot of Africans are still not digitally savvy and that is why, like Mercy said there are rules that are springing up but because it’s massive, we’re not intelligent. It’s not like we’re not smart, or we have not. We are not equipped to the skills that will match the jobs that have been available” she added.

Also speaking at the press Conference, Mr Fred Amata, FilmMaker, an actor, director/ Scrum Master, urged Nigerians to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Women in Agile Africa Conference.

He noted that with the ever evolving technology world, it has become pertinent for Nigerians to upskill their skills in line with current global trends in order to remain relevant and competitive, stressing that one can never be too old for education.

“The world that is emerging now, is a world that continues to go towards digital, which is built towards information technology space and the importance of it began to dawn on me when I enrolled for the training because right now there are over 60 million jobs available even on our phones through technology and you can upskill without minding your age because am close to 60 years and now am a master of scrum.”

Women in Agile Africa has over 20,000 memberships with 70 local groups, but it is still growing in Africa.

Participation:

The Women in Agile Africa conference is free for all attendees but registration is compulsory. You can register HERE.