First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion services provider, on Thursday presented 20,000 units of e-learning devices to the Lagos State government. The devices are planned for distribution to school children.
With the gesture, the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the state had found a “real development partner” in FirstBank, noting that the intervention came at a time the government was massively deploying technology to transform the conventional mode of teaching and learning.
The presentation of these devices which is also in partnership with Robert & John (an edu-tech company who owns Roducate) is part of activities implemented to close the gap caused by the disruption in children education’s due to schools closure following the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the bank has enabled over 10,000 free sign-ups to the Roducate e-learning platform with the goal to empower one million students.
“When we were developing our vision to change the face of education in Lagos, we knew from the outset that we could not achieve much progress in improving the quality of learning without using technology as a strong enabler. So, it is not out of place that we are witnessing more infusion of technology in learning and this intervention by FirstBank could not have come at a better time,” Sanwo-Olu said at the event held at the State House in Marina, Lagos.
“It feels great when you have people and organisations share in your vision and working with you to realise it. I’m glad to say that we have found a real development partner in FirstBank, which has supported us to actualise the vision we have signed to achieve. Many years back, nobody foresaw Coronavirus (COVID-19) would come and disrupt our ways of life. These devices will be useful to our pupils in the current circumstances we have found ourselves,” he said.
He said FirstBank and all technical partners that worked on the project have written their names in the heart of students that will use the device to learn.
The e-learning device is configured in line with the government’s accredited curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary schools across various fields of academic endeavours, such as science, commercial and arts. It is built to promote cost-effective learning as there is minimal need for internet connectivity, whilst learning on the device is on-going.
Speaking on the presentation, Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, said “the e-learning initiative aligns with our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability initiatives and falls under one of our key strategic pillars, thus Education through Support to our Communities”.
“We are excited to promote education and have consistently demonstrated this in our support of 10 universities and 3 secondary schools on infrastructure projects; our support of 10 universities with professorial Chairs and provision of financial literacy, entrepreneurial and career counselling to over 80,000 students in over 80 secondary schools in the country,” he added.
The bank has also collaborated with IBM and Curious Learning to ensure the e-learning initiative moves across the country swiftly to ensure school children and individuals with the pursuit of knowledge, irrespective of age are productively covered.
The partnership with IBM offers the Digital-Nation Africa programme, an online youth-focused learning programme that enables innovation and skills development on emerging technologies through focus areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Cloud, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Data Science and Analytics, and Cybersecurity whilst Curious Learning offers academic-based contents for students aged 3-8, using fun, self-guided learning apps to help them with their cognitive skills at a fundamental level.
