Vanguard (Lagos)

Nigeria: FG Orders 1m Laptops for Children At N13bn

By Okoh Aihe and Luka Binniyat, 12 July 2006

Abuja — Nigeria has paid for one million, $100 a piece Laptops computers designed by One Laptop per Child (OLPC), first announced by Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte, now chairman of OLPC, at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2005.

Meanwhile, Nigeria will be the first country to host the much acclaimed Digital World Conference in which not less than thirty countries, big telecom and ICT firms will attend.

These were announced by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Engr. Ernest Ndukwe at a press conference in Abuja.

"The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in collaboration with the Growing Businesses Foundation (GBF) and the TT30 Club of Rome, is hosting the Digital World Conference 2006 for the first time in Africa at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja from September 12 -- 13, 2006. The theme of the forthcoming conference is "ICTs for Education and Development." he said. "This is in consonance with our vision which aims to create an information rich environment in the country. " The Commission believes that preparing the future of Nigeria is to educate the young generation. Today, about seventy percent of the Nigerian population is younger than twenty-five years old and "therein lies the richness of our country".

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  • mamas361112
    Feb 26 2008, 08:55
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    I have a 10 year old daughter that would absolutely love to have one of the laptops that have been created for $100. I am a single mother of 3 and cannot afford a conventional laptop. She has wanted one for Christmas for the past 3 years. I would like to know if the said laptops will ever be for sale in the U.S. and if so how could we purchase one? Katie is very intelligent and wants to be a veternarian. I feel that having a laptop will increase her chances of getting into a good school in the future. I think it is great that children in Africa will have the oppertunity for such a great tool for their education. I would like the same for my child.