Osun to produce cheap telephone handsets … Distributes 23,100 computer tablets to students

The Osun state government has assured Nigerians that durable and
affordable telephone handsets will soon be churned out from its technology
village to meet the needs of citizens across the country.
This was disclosed weekend by the state commissioner for
Inter-governmental affairs and Special Duties, Mr Ajibola Bashir who also
stated that so far 23, 100 Opon Imo computer tablets produced through a
partnership between the state and a Chinese firm had been distributed to
students out of a total of 50, 000 pieces already on ground. He said
further distribution of the device was being delayed to allow some
modification that will personalize each device for every student in a way
that will prevent theft and wrong use of the product.
The Commissioner who spoke at a media parley hosted in Lagos weekend by
the National Legal Adviser of the APC, Dr Muiz Banire further disclosed
that to produce extra 100,000 pieces of the device, the state government
has to enter into a partnership with the Chinese firm producing the device
to transfer the technology to Nigeria by establishing a factory in the
state’s technology village in Ilesha where other products such as
telephone handsets, laptop computers among others will be produced and
repaired by Nigerians who have been trained by the foreign firm.
According to him “We are doing this for technological transfer because it
won’t be economically reasonable to import that magnitude of devices from
abroad. So, why not have the manufacturing company here. As we speak now,
the company is already on ground and manufacturing and installation of the
software of this product is being done in Ilesha.
“The company will solve the problem of telephone handsets rip-off on
Nigerians because it would be able to meet the demands of Nigerian
telephone consumers and this would be cheaper. Over 5,000 citizens of the
state have been trained on the manufacturing of telecommunication devices
and some of them have been sent to Ghana for further skill acquisition.”
Bashir further disclosed that the administration has recruited no fewer
than 7350 teachers who have been trained with a view to taking the public
schools in the state to the level of highbrow private schools in the
state.
The Commissioner revealed that private schools in the state are even
losing students to public schools due to facilities being put in place and
the condusive learning environment.
“When the administration of Ogbeni Aregbesola berthed in the state of
Osun, the first thing we had to brainstorm on is how to jump start the
non-existent economy of the state because the allocation that accrues to
the state from the federation account was not even enough to pay salaries
of workers.
“At a point, one of our leaders suggested that we should establish a
factory that would be producing slippers so that we can generate funds to
implement all the things we had promised the people”, he added.