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Lagos Lauds SAP, Tips Africa Code Week to Bridge Digital Skills Gap
The Lagos State Government has identified ‘Africa Code Week’ (ACW), a continent-wide initiative to spark the interest of African children, teenagers and young adults in software coding, as a digitally revolutionary approach to get the youths acquainted with the required skills set to face future workplace/ technological developments.
Spearheaded by SAP as part of its social investments to drive sustainable growth in Africa, Africa Code Week (ACW) is the story of hundreds of schools, teachers, ministers, community centres, code clubs, NGOs, businesses and non-profits getting together to give birth to the largest digital literacy initiative ever organized on the African continent.
Speaking at the week-long AfricaCodeWeek 2016 in Lagos, Mr. Femi Odubiyi, Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Science and Technology, said that with SAP’s long-term goal through ACW, to empower over 200,000 teachers and positively impacting the lives of five million children and youth within the next 10 years, the programme is appropriate and critical to the State’s plan to empower the youths.
Odubiyi said, “One of the things that drive this government is the action to grow and empower our youths. One of the areas through which we can articulate that, is through the information and communication technologies (ICTs). We are in the era of digital revolution. This government wants to ensure that we do not miss out of that revolution; we want to empower our future leaders who are the youths of today.
“We want to help them to develop their creativity and be able to think out of the box. Today they are using coding tools; tomorrow they will be empowered to do more than that, by developing programs on e-health, security apparatuses and so forth. What is been imbedded in them today are skills required for the future.”
In reflecting on the ICT/coding curriculum for Schools in the State, the Commissioner said that ICT is consistently changing the environment; hence the State is moving with the trends. “This is the principal reason the State adopts programmes like Africa Code Week. We want to enhance the capacity of our teachers to be relevant”.
To the participating teachers the Commissioner had the following message: “The teachers are the first beneficiaries; thus, they are being empowered. What they are doing now is to get the required skills to develop the future cognitive thinkers. They are trail blazers who are going to lead the digital revolution in Lagos State”.
Also speaking at the event was Mr. Olu Familusi, head, Business Operations, SAP West Africa, who said that with businesses increasingly digital and globally connected, coding is the new language for individual and economic growth.
With the distinction of being the fastest growing digital consumer market on the planet, Africa continues to quickly embrace new technology and digital trends as estimated. For example, there will be 360 million Smart Phone users in Africa by 2025, there are 100 million African people active on Facebook every month, 40% of African businesses are in the planning stages of a big data project and 31% of all Africans live within 25kms of fibre node.
To this end, Familusi said, “We have to emphasis ‘Digitization, Youth and the Skills Gap in Africa. Today’s millennial generations are truly digital natives. Over the next 25 years, it is estimated that Africa’s working-age population will double to one billion, exceeding that of China and India, with 122 million people to be added to the workforce by 2020. It is also estimated that less than one percent of African children currently leave school with basic coding skills.
“Moving forward, coding skills will almost become like the math and English. That is what we see and we are trying to address same. At this point in time in Africa, less than one percent (less 1%) of school leavers has this skill. So we have this metric around people who are coming on board, huge workforce, but how prepared are they to face the future.”
Africa Code Week (ACW) is aligned with SAP’s skills development program launched in 2013. Investing in IT skills for young people is critical to SAP’s commitment to build sustainable growth in Africa. SAP has launched successful IT skills development programs around the world touching the lives of children and youth at various phases of education from primary to graduate. ACW builds on the success of government driven Code Week across the EU, which SAP strongly supports as a private sector partner.
Speaking on the significance of ACW, Mr. Olajide Ajayi, Nigeria’s Coordinator of Africa Code Week, emphasized that by sparking interest in creative computing through hands-on, playful learning,
Africa Code Week simplifies the face of coding for the young generation.
“When it comes to accessing higher skills development, training thousands of teachers, parents and educators across 30 African countries and providing access to them online with courses beyond the actual event time allows to multiply efforts and impact.”
Even the results recorded in 2015 speak for themselves. The 2015 edition went viral with over 89,000 youth introduced to coding across 17 countries in 10 days only (over 4 times the initial goal of training 20,000).
What makes ACW unique is that, by sparking interest in creative computing through hands-on, playful learning, Africa Code Week simplifies the face of coding for the young generation.
ACW is aimed at spreading digital literacy across the continent and start shaping tomorrow’s skilled workforce for sustainable growth in Africa.
SAP already invests in Skills for Africa, which provides additional business and IT skills to recent university graduates.
ACW reinforces that commitment to graduates while extending it to primary and secondary students, creating a full lifecycle of skills support for young people in Africa.
U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that a deal for the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations is expected to be finalized before the April 5 deadline.
U.S. President Donald Trump
The deadline, set by legislation passed in January, mandates TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. assets or face a nationwide ban due to national security concerns.
Multiple non-Chinese firms have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok’s U.S. operations.
Private equity firm Blackstone is considering a minority investment, potentially joining existing non-Chinese shareholders such as Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic.
In a strategic move to facilitate the sale, Trump suggested that he might consider a reduction in tariffs on China, acknowledging that Chinese regulatory approval may be required for the deal to proceed.
The White House has been actively involved in negotiations to ensure that TikTok remains operational in the U.S. while addressing national security risks.
With TikTok’s 170 million American users watching closely, the outcome of the sale is expected to have a major impact on the social media landscape and the broader tech industry.
Questions have been mounting over the House of Representatives threat to order the arrest of Mrs. Bisoye Coker-Odusote, director-general, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), for failure to appear before it to answer charges on refusal to pay for a state-of-the-art software development project executed by a private company, Truid Limited, for NIMC.
Mrs. Bisoye Coker-Odusote, director-general, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC),
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions had invited the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote, to appear before it to explain the commission’s failure to pay for the state-of-the art software development project executed by the private company, Truid Limited for NIMC. However, the NIMC DG has repeatedly failed to honour the committee’s invitation in person.
Honourable Mike Etaba, Committee’s Chairman, who was angered by the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote’s failure to appear before the committee to personally answer charges on the matter after repeated invitations, last month, issued a stern warning to order the Inspector-General of Police, to arrest the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote if she refused to appear before the committee at its next hearing, which was fixed for March 13, 2025.
However, it has been over two weeks after the Committee’s sitting of March 13, 2025; yet, there are no indications that the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote, honoured the committee’s invitation by personally appearing before it. The committee also appears to have failed to order the IGP to arrest her, leading to many raising questions over the seriousness of the committee to execute its threats. Others wonder why the chief executive of a government agency would refuse to personally appear before the House of Representatives to answer charges on a petition regarding the agency’s activities.
During its sitting of February 11, 2025 the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions threatened to order the arrest of the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Bisoye Coker-Odusote.
The committee said it would actualise the threat if Mrs. Coker-Odusote failed to come in person to answer charges on her refusal to pay for the state-of-the-art software development project.
Chairman of the committee, Mike Etaba, frowned at the continuous absence of the NIMC director-general despite several invitations.
In a statement by the Media Head, Public Petitions Committee of the House of Representatives, Chooks Oko, the Chairman of the Committee stated: “If she fails to show up at the next hearing of this case, we’ll have no option than to ask the Inspector-General of Police to bring her.
“How can an official of government treat constituted authority with such levity? We can no longer condone such attitude,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project was installed and deployed to the commission by a private firm, Truid Limited, which was alleging a breach of licence agreement by NIMC.
The statement added that the private company, Truid Limited, which executed the state-of-the-art software development project, is alleging a breach of licence agreement by NIMC, noting that E. R. Opara, counsel to Truid Limited, stated that the contract is premised on an arrangement whereby the Truid Limited funded, developed and deployed the “tokenization system project” without any financial obligation from NIMC.
According to E. R. Opara, counsel to Truid Limited, the agreement is premised on an arrangement that the project would be funded by the firm.
“Truid Ltd was to get returns on her investment through patronage of service providers and the proceeds shared on an agreed ratio. This was to run for an initial period of 10 years, from 2021 when the software was deployed,” Opara said.
According to the petition, things were going smoothly until the appointment of the new DG of NIMC, Mrs. Coker-Odusote, who has been trying to truncate the agreement.
When contacted to comment on whether or not the DG NIMC has personally appeared before the committee, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, Honourable Mike Etaba said: “For now, that matter has been stepped down!”
Honourable Etaba explained further why the matter was stepped down: “We are now taking that case on an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) route. That’s where the matter is now,” he said, adding, “the Committee is silent on it (the matter) until they give us the report of the ADR. That is when we will know what next to do.”
Asked when the ADR resolution he mentioned is meant to be concluded, Honourable Etaba stated: “I can’t say for now how and when the ADR will come up. That’s the situation of the case for now.”
The Lagos State Governor, His Excellency Babajide Sanwo-Olu has commended Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia Nigeria, for its giant strides and in the growth of the country’s e-commerce sector, as well as its unique contributions to its economic development.
He said that Jumia has earned its place as a major brand, with its growth and trajectory in the country’s e-commerce ecosystem over the years which, he said, has made it a household name. He urged the company to not only strive to maintain its excellent service standards, but to also work towards improving them.
The Governor who was speaking during a courtesy visit by the management of Jumia Nigeria to the State House in Marina on Thursday March 27, reaffirmed the strategic importance of the company in the economic development of Lagos State and Nigeria, especially in job creation.
He restated his administration’s commitment in ensuring that Lagos State remains environmentally friendly for businesses to grow.
“Our administration has always prioritized creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Through various initiatives, we have strengthened the ease of doing business, and fostered innovation to drive economic growth, and we will continue to support businesses and create opportunities that will aid in their growth”, Sanwo-Olu said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said that the Lagos State Government remains open to collaborations with the private sector to enhance service delivery, infrastructure development, and create opportunities for residents, with the aim of building a resilient and sustainable future.
He said the administration recognises the importance of working with the private sector to achieve its goals of improving the lives of its citizens.
Speaking also, the Chief Executive Officer of Jumia Nigeria, Sunil Natraj, thanked the governor for creating an enabling environment in the state for businesses like Jumia to grow. He stated Jumia’s commitment to contributing towards the growth and development of the state, and the country.
Natraj said the company has made tremendous strides from its early days as a tech start-up in Lagos and has grown to become the number one e-commerce platform in Nigeria, with a presence in nine African countries. He said the company presently employs hundreds of Nigerians directly, and thousands more indirectly as independent sales agents and partners.
He restated Jumia Nigeria’s commitment to providing excellent service, focusing on delivering exceptional value and fostering long-term relationships with its customers around the country.
Among other things, he said the company is actively working to enhance customer experience, aiming to simplify the e-commerce process, making it easier for customers to navigate and shop online.
According to him, Jumia aims to transform everyday life in Africa by making it easier for consumers to access goods and services conveniently and affordably, adding that the company is focused on expanding access to retail across the country.
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