Microsoft Nigeria in partnership with the Future Project and The Zariah Elizabeth Foundation (TZE Foundation) is set to empower 6000 public school students in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria with basic skills in Kodu, Minecraft, HTML and CSS.
The initiative which is part of a larger campaign to get #1MillionFingersCoding has been dubbed Code2Create and intends to train 600 students in 10 schools across the Federal Capital Territory.
According to the TZE Foundation, training of the students will last for 10 days, and further training will be provided for teachers of each school at the foundation’s HUB and through the Microsoft Youthworks portal Aiki Nigeria.
Through its partnership with Microsoft, the foundation plans to introduce students to the world of ‘coding’ at an early stage and start a code club in the schools with support from Partners.
According to TZE Foundation Executive Director, Mr Akindayo Akindolani:
we believe that learning programming skills will benefit children in many ways, whatever their ultimate career – almost akin to the reason for giving children the chance to learn a musical instrument or a foreign language.
Mr Akindayo added that
one of our major objectives is towards building the next set of developers that will eventually emerge as the next Bill Gate, Mark Zuckerberg that Nigeria and Africa will be proud of.
In his words the Citizenship Manager, Microsoft Nigeria Olusola Amusan said,
at Microsoft, we believe if we can inspire, enable and provide a conducive environment through digital literacy and coding skills, we are securing the nation’s future.
Amusan stated that
the ‘Code2Create’ initiative is part of the #1millionFingersCoding campaign of Microsoft and will empower 6000 youths in the FCT among which there might be the leaders of tomorrow’s technology empires; adding to GDP and providing limitless opportunities.
The initiative which is in line with the Federal Government’s need for diversification of Nigeria’s economy, intends to introduce young students to the IT world at an early age to enable them positively boost the country’s image in the ICT sector.