Nahimah Ajikanle Nurudeen
The Lagos State Government has said that it will commission 300 Coding Centers across the six Education Districts in the State by April 2017.
The project being anchored by the Lagos State Ministry of Education was part of the roll out of CodeLagos program to teach at least one million Lagos residents on computer coding by 2019.
The initiative was part of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s framework to foster necessary skills that would create sustainable solutions to social challenges and create employment opportunities in the state.
Speaking at a press briefing, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh announced the commencement of the screening and selection exercise for facilitators for the programme.
According to him, the commissioning of the centres is to facilitate the Code Lagos after-school programme in both public and private schools – primary, secondary and tertiary.
He said Centers will also be set up at State public libraries and other community spaces.
Bank-Olemoh said that; “CodeLagos will not only cultivate a savvy workforce to drive our mega-city, but it will generate employment and business opportunities as we mobilize up to 1,500 facilitators in 2017 alone.
“CodeLagos is an initiative of the Lagos State Government which aims to teach one million Lagos residents to code by 2019. The program will foster necessary skills to create sustainable solutions to social challenges and create employment opportunities.”
Bank-Olemoh maintained that Governor Ambode was keen to position Lagos State as the technology frontier in Africa saying it was also in line with the Lagos Smart City initiative in partnership with Dubai Smart City.
He said the application process, which is primarily online, entails a submission of bio-data and completion of a general assessment, while successful applicants will receive world-standard trainings on the necessary skills areas.
“Qualifying candidates must be available to participate in all the required trainings which would be provided by the State in collaboration with private sector partners within the technology sector. They must also be willing to commit at least 12 hours weekly to facilitate CodeLagos courses at designated centers upon the launch of the initiative in April,” he said.
