Lagos Govt To Train One Million Residents On Coding By 2030

Lagos State Goernor Akinwunmi Ambode

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said that it would have trained one million residents on coding by 2030 to enable them compete globally in the labour market.

The Special Adviser to the governor on Education, Obafela Bank-Olemoh, speaking on the topic, “Teaching One Million Lagosians to Code”, stated this at the sixth edition of Social Media Week Lagos.

Mr. Bank-Olemoh, according to NAN, said global competitiveness required critical thinking and problem-solving skills which could be acquired through coding.

According to him, the skills to be acquired during the training would also make beneficiaries to be entrepreneurs.

“Lagos population is 65 per cent young; so, you have to give them skills that will make them to succeed. How do we ensure that the workforce in Lagos succeeds? Technology has to play a role.

“We want Lagos to continue to prosper and the average workforce able to deliver. We also want to ensure that the average Nigerian becomes relevant and able to compete globally, he said.

However, he said that such a project would not be successful without public or private partnership. Four partners with the government in the project emphasised the importance of coding young people, saying that it would be instrumental to national growth.

The partners are Prize Water Corporation (PWC), Remitta, ARM and Oracle.

Pedro Omontuemehn, Country Partner, PWC, said that the organisation would support the government on projects that would educate the people, empower them to be critical thinkers and employable globally.

In his remark, Adebayo Sanni, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle, described the project as moving away from an oil-led economy to a service-led one.

He commended Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for the development, saying he was turning Lagos State to a service-led economy.