By Segun Adekoye
Leading phone maker, Nokia will be collaborating with the Federal Government of Nigeria to establish a mobile software laboratory in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson during an MOU signing with Nokia to foster innovation and development of the ICT sector in Nigeria.

This collaboration, Mrs Johnson said, is expected to provide training for university students and emerging mobile entrepreneurs capable of competing in local and international markets. It will also help to create locally relevant content and services.

The mobile software laboratory will include a dedicated growth program for local developers focusing on design, technical and business skills. This would empower Nigerian software developers with the proper skills set and support for creating businesses that last and are sustainable around mobile software and content development.

She revealed that the government has further plans to partner the private sector and industry players to help bridge the digital gap and as well stimulate socio-economic development.

The alliance between the Federal Government of Nigeria with Nokia will also see to provide support in order to stimulate the growth of the local application developer ecosystem and industry. Another objective of the MOU, according to the released statement, is to enable the building of environmental awareness and expansion of handset recycling in the country.

http://www.cp-africa.com/2012/05/01/nokia-to-establish-mobile-software-laboratory-in-nigeria/

"Will"
I'm sick and tired of 'The FG "Will".'

mobile software laboratory? what exactly does this mean, besides doling out money to nokia? is nokia planning to outsource their R& to nigeria? and if so, why would they do such a "stupid" thing? what strategic advantages do they possibly foresee to make such investments? it just doesn't make any sense to me. a hardware research lab would make more sense, yet i don't see the wisdom in such a venture in an environment that does not guarantee the security of your intellectual property-rights and where there is virtually no talent pool to draw from. why not have nokia to sponsor computer science\engineering departments in universities & polytechnics instead?

i suspect somebody has hatched plans to loot more money from the treasury & is using nokia as a front for this scheme, thus i'm waiting to hear how many billions this project is gonna gulp.

even when the government has not been performing people still depend on them and use them as their excuse to be corrupt and be lazy.... please you all should ignore the government

good news for nigeria