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Lagos government set to train 1000 facilitators in coding skills

By Ujunwa Atueyi
13 April 2017   |   3:10 am
In its bid to make Lagos the economic destination of choice in the country and Africa at large, the state government in partnership with SystemSpecs and other members of the organised...

Obafela Bank-Olemoh

In its bid to make Lagos the economic destination of choice in the country and Africa at large, the state government in partnership with SystemSpecs and other members of the organised private sector is set to train 1000 facilitators this April to kick start an initiative called CodeLagos aimed at equipping one million residents with coding skills.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh who disclosed this at the commencement of a three-day training session for CodeLagos Master Trainers in the state said the vision of Governor Akinwumi Ambode is to equip one million Lagos residents with coding skills by the year 2019 so as to position the state as the technology frontier in Africa.

Bank-Olemoh disclosed that the pilot phase of the programme equipped 100 trainees who would serve as Master Trainers with the knowledge and skills to teach afterschool coding classes for the CodeLagos programme.

According to him, the master trainers would in turn train over 1,000 CodeLagos facilitators that would eventually be deployed to different coding centres across the state. This way, Bank-Olemoh added that the project would create employment and business opportunities for Lagosians in the technology sector.

He said: “ the master trainers are very critical to the success of CodeLagos as they are the ones that would ensure that the government pass out the knowledge require to transform the education space in the state in this era of technology”.

Already, the official said government has started setting up coding centres in schools across the state and promised to provide a list of those centres to the public to know where coding would start once students resume school.

Speaking on the partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, SystemSpecs, Etisalat, Oando Foundation, Oracle Academy and others, Bank-Olemoh pointed out that cooperation between the government and the private sector is critical to solving the challenges in Lagos and the country as a whole.

In his remarks, the Executive Director, SystemSpecs, Mr. Deremi Atanda expressed the continued commitment of the organisation to support what he described as the foundation of a future economy in Nigeria.

On his part, the state Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Femi Odubiyi described the programme as the right approach for the state to start preparing for the future.

CodeLagos will officially launch this April, with a roll out of coding centers across 350 public and private schools, tertiary institutions and public libraries across the State.

The state also plans to operate an online portal where people can go to learn.

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