Nigeria: PC for Students - Exploring the Tablet Option

21 November 2012

In the last take of this column, the Student PC Ownership Scheme of the Federal Government, powered by the Ministry of Communications Technology and its agency, NITDA, was the subject of discussion. Lauding the effort, I wrote, inter alia: "Overall, it is a commendable initiative, seeing that telcos are expected to connect the PCs with bandwidth, processors from Intel, software from Microsoft, credit from the banks. Obviously a lot of work has gone into preparing the scheme. The minister and her team are to be commended."

My parting shot on that was on the price at which the devices are being offered. To recap, the first level is from N48,500; the second level is N70,500 and the third level is N85,000- N100,000. I also wrote that the price range "grossly underestimates the level of poverty in this country. I think Mr President ought to look at the scheme personally and see how the Federal Government can subsidize the scheme by at least fifty per cent. That will be five-star national service."

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