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Nigeria Receives 8,000 PCs from UK Charity

Nigeria Today
18th April '08

Nigeria has received 8,000 PCs from Computer Aid International (CAI), a U.K.-based charity organization and provider of refurbished computers. About 100,000 fully refurbished computers have been supplied to more than 106 countries in the past eight years by the organization, according to Anne Musyoki, a program officer at Computer Aid West Africa. Musyoki announced the Nigerian deal while on a weeklong visit to Nigeria.

The PC deal is part of efforts geared toward assisting developing nations in bridging the digital divide by making affordable PCs available. CAI has made donations to the Cooperative Information Network (COPINE/NITDA/FMST) at Obafemi Awolowo University, the Distance Learning Centre in the University of Ibadan and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Musyoki said.

Musyoki said she was in the country to examine possible partnerships that would enhance IT penetration. Partners would help CAI replicate programs such as e-learning and telemedicine, which have been successful in other countries. CAI is working mostly with secondary schools, health centers and other Non Government Organizations (NGOs). Musyoki pointed out that in the past eight years, CAI and its partners have been able to supply standard systems renewed under stringent conditions at affordable rates to people around the world.

"In Nigeria, we are talking with NGOs and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to seek ways of opening opportunities for Information Technology (IT) skill acquisition, distance learning and telemedicine," Musyoki said. For example, in Nigeria, PCs from Computer Aid have been deployed in an Ile-Ife-based training company Classic Infotech Systems, providing IT skills to youths in the environs, with more than 200 students benefiting since November 2007.

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