Nigeria and five other countries have been named the first beneficiaries of the One-Laptop-One-Child Initiative. Others are Egypt, India, Brazil, China and Thailand.
Chairman of the initiative, Professor Nicholas Negroponte who disclosed this in Tunis, said the laptops would be distributed through various governments of benefitting nations.
Initial distribution of the laptops is expected by first quarter of next year, when the Nigerian authority is expected to buy into the idea, although interest has been shown by the government.
Prof. Negroponte, who said he was in Nigeria last week, also noted that dealing with governments strictly is difficult, but the concept is because the laptops are slated for usage in improving standard of education mostly in developing countries.
He emphasized in that open source is the best thing that could happen to the initiative as it would boost the project penetration.
In his remarks on the initiative, Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Mr. Kofi Annan, said that it is inspiring in many respects as much as it is an impressive technical achievement.
He also lauded Prof. Negroponte and his team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States for the initiative.
Mr. Burger accompanied by executive committee member of the Club, Prof. Raoul Weiler, said due to the interest shown by the President and his minister in Tunisia, at the second phase of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS-05), a meeting has been scheduled between them and the Nigerian top government officials.
This team, he said, would comprise the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun and Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, and would be Friday, to strengthen the drive for the computer whose mass production is scheduled early next year.
More
|
