After years of proposition and planning, the Lagos State Government weekend launched the State Digital Library and assured the preparedness of the administration to boost electronic access to education for all.
Giving more details on why his government though it wise to complete and deliver the infrastructure, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said Lagos cannot afford to lag behind when the entire world is going digital in everything.
Ably represented by Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello, the Governor noted that “the decision to unveil a first-of-its-kind digital library is to provide access to educational materials through the collection of digital content via the online portal”.
While arguing that the feat was part of the buildup to becoming Africa’s model megacity and a global economic and financial Hub, Ambode noted that “The digital library will provide a repository of contents which include 2,000 study aids on core subjects from primary to senior secondary school curriculum, over 1,600 tutorials, instructional videos and selected e-books for primary to SS3 approved texts, brief history of Lagos State, online forum, podcasts and exam-mate (A Test Resource)”.
According to him, “The contents also include quality research papers from Lagos State tertiary institutions covering a wide range of topics digitized for the platform in various forms such as vocational videos, entrepreneurship contents, creatively presented history lessons and online courses on coding”.
“Code Lagos” and “Digital Library” projects were initiated as part of the Government’s efforts to make the State the next technology hub in Africa, stressing that the Digital Library programme is the first of its kind in the State and one of the largest learning platforms in Africa.
He recalled that the facility was affront to the readiness of Lagos Mega City to compete well at a time Africa is expected to reach 500 million internet users by 2020.
He said the elibraries at Herbert Macaulay, Yaba and the one at Isolo have already taken up by corporate organizations in partnership with the state government.
Details made available to Business Hilights show that the digital library online portal – “www.educatelagos.com” – was unveiled at the Landmark Event Center, Victoria Island and was attended by members of the Organised Private Sector and the Diplomatic communities.
