Posted by By Okoh Aihe on
So early in the year the academic community and the IT sector are about to witness a major revolution as AfriHub is about to light on the first of its numerous IT Parks located in forty higher institutions across the country beginning January 13, 2005.
So early in the year the academic community and the IT sector are about to witness a major revolution as AfriHub is about to light on the first of its numerous IT Parks located in forty higher institutions across the country beginning January 13, 2005.
The IT Parks will connect the institutions to the entire globe and make communications and learning very easy. AfriHub is a United States based company which has Zinox, the Nigerian IT identity, as its country partner.
In a telephone conversation at the weekend, President of Nigeria's IT Professionals Abroad, NITPA, Prof. Manny Aniebonam who spoke from his Washington DC base, explained that the AfriHub initiative would attract direct investment in the true spirit of the Private Public Partnership and achieve an effective ICT intervention in Nigeria. The goals of the initiative include: capacity building, youth empowerment, expert IT training, and ICT certification to position Nigeria to attract global out sourcing opportunities.
Prof. Aniebonam explained that the first of the ICT Parks will be launched by Afrihub at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Enugu on the 13th of January, 2005. While noting that the importance of the project has made it imperative for the launch to be very elaborate that the UNN launch, the first in the series, will consist of three segments; a morning event for the main campus at Nsukka, an afternoon event at the Enugu campus, and a gala reception (night) at the Nike Lake Hotel.
He confirmed that the Minister of Education, Professor Fabian Osuji, has confirmed his attendance at the launch, which is expected to attract the cream of the academia, governments, and IT stakeholders in the entire country.
In presenting a year plan for AfriHub, Prof. Aniebonam, who also doubles as the Vice President of Afrihub, informed that the UNN launch will quickly be followed in the first quarter of 2005 by other launches of ICT Parks in the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. In the 2nd quarter of 2005, AfriHub will switch on three ICT parks in Western Nigeria and another three centres in three universities in the North in the 3rd quarter of 2005.
Also commenting on the UNN launch, Bruce Kraselsky, President and CEO of AfriHub recalled that the initial partnership agreement was signed in May 2004, while a formal declaration was made on September 15, 2004, for the establishment of ICT Parks at the UNN, Nsukka and Enugu campuses. Bruce Kraselsky explained that the ICT Park will include a state-of-the-art cyber centre with more than 100 PC's with high speed internet access, a multi-line call centre for high quality domestic and international telephony, and campus-wide wireless extension for future growth. Each Park, he said, will also have computer and multimedia equipped classrooms for US instructor led technical training. The training curriculum will range from basic courses in word processing, presentations and spreadsheets, to advanced certifications across the entire ICT spectrum.
In the centre of this development is Zinox Technologies which is in partnership with the AfriHub initiative.
Commenting on the relationship with AfriHub, Chairman of Zinox Technologies, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, explained that the partnership was a socially responsible conduct from Zinox in pursuance of its avowed objective to promote a knowledge and intelligent society. Mr. Ekeh described the ICT Parks as a unique concept because they are rich in IT resources, which students, business people and government personnel can translate into skills and capabilities that have real economic value.