Country Manager of Microsoft Nigeria, Mr Akin Banuso has given fresh insights on why the technology services provider unveiled Africa Development Centre in the country.
Speaking in an interview in Lagos, he said due to the urge to impact knowledge to the youths, Microsoft wants the people to really learn and grow in the space of technology education.
He said “We recently launched our Africa development centre where we are going to be hiring engineers that work for Microsoft. Part of that initiative is that we realised that we have a lot talents in Nigeria but what we are lacking are the skills. We are working closely with the universities to see how we can contribute to what they do.
“We are also working with the government to see what we can do with the curriculum because at the moment, the programme is fixed; new subjects are regarded as electives or extra courses. We should start thinking about technical colleges that offer the kind of skills we want for the future.
According to him, “We have been working with Edo State, Akwa Ibom and Kaduna State and the Federal Government. We have realised that knowledge is power and we want people to really learn and grow in this space.
He added that in view of the Development Centre, Microsoft is hiring engineers so as to drive the Centre.
“Part of that initiative is that we realised that we have a lot talents in Nigeria but what we are lacking are the skills. We are working closely with the universities to see how we can contribute to what they do.
“We are also working with the government to see what we can do with the curriculum because at the moment, the programme is fixed; new subjects are regarded as electives or extra courses. We should start thinking about technical colleges that offer the kind of skills we want for the future.
Banuso noted that “Education makes a difference to me because when people take time to spend time with you, and figure out how you learn.”
To him, “Educating our young ones is a core priority for us. Last year, we had a hackathon with 30 girls. For a week, we did a lot of mentoring and coding through an initiative called LEAP. We mentored and helped them to come up with real life solutions to problems. For this round, we focused on agriculture. We are working with various institutions and we are going to partner with Lagos State government to help with education and any other state that is interested.
