Ekiti Distributes 48,000 Laptops to Teachers, Students

 Ekiti State government has distributed 48,000 computers to teachers and students for the purpose of enhancing teaching and learning in the State, according to Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the governor.

Ekiti State in March, 2012, made history in its education sector with the commencement of the distribution, then 11,000 units of laptop computers to students and teachers of public secondary schools in the state, under the first phase.

However, Dr. Fayemi speaking through Mr. Kayode Jegede, his special assistant on Infrastructural Development and Special Duties, during the maiden Telecom Stakeholders Summit organized by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in Lagos, recently, said that out of the number, 30,000 students benefited from the gestures, while the remaining 18,000 where for teachers.

Fayemi said that the move is geared towards making Ekiti the ICT capital of Nigeria and in preparation for Ekiti Digital Platform, biometric payroll, e-payment IGR system and laying of fibre-optic cables in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

 He said, “The present government has gone this far to ensure that everything is done to make us stand shoulders higher than other states by recreating our feat in the areas of academic excellence that our land was in the time past identified with”.

He added that the project has become quite imperative for those involved in the teaching and learning process to be computer-literate in line with global standard of knowledge acquisition.

Fayemi added that given the huge investment on the e-learning project for all secondary school students’ initiative, “some might even deem it as a waste”. He said the State Government can not be distracted in the pursuit of the digitalized city scheme.

He disclosed that Ekiti and NCC have reached understanding on the construction of emergency call centre in the State, “thus, we are eager to see affordable broadband that will drive our numerous ICT initiatives.

“ICT has helped us in fighting insecurity. We discovered that with effective communication the Police can perform better. This is evident in our Rapid Response Squad (RRS) that has galvanized the potentials in ICT to combat crime,” the Governor added.