Major operator in the TowerCo space, IHS Towers, has promised to build one of the largest tech hubs in the country as a way of deepening the ecosystem and facilitate knowledge acquisition by the youths.
Chief Corporate Services Officer, IHS Nigeria, Dapo Otunla, who spoke in Lagos during the a press conference to present the 20 beneficiaries of the company’s Global Educators Programme in partnership with Limitless Space Institute (LSI), said expanding the frontiers of knowledge through education remained one of the cardinal programmes of the company.
He expressed delight at partnering with LSI to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in the country, promising that the company will sustain the initiative which made its debut this year.
IHS is one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world, with operations across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. It is the third largest independent multinational tower company (twoerco) in the world.
Currently in Nigeria, Otunla said the company owns over 16,000 base transceiver stations across the country. As a demonstration of the company’s education-centric focus, he said the HIS has a program that takes care of the education of its staff from bottom to top, stating that should any of the worker leave the employment of the company, the education will be continued.
Speaking to the program, he said the 10 teachers, who underwent a-12-month training on space technology both in Nigeria and the United States (U.S), are expected to also share the knowledge they acquired with their learners back home.
Also speaking, Executive Director at LSI, Kaci Hemz, said during the 12-month training period, the teachers had an opportunity of interacting with over 500 virtual educators, adding that the programme has started stimulating the interest of students in the country in space technology if the feedback from the beneficiaries (teachers) is anything to go by.
She said the competition organized during the programme was won by Rshidat Ademosu of Eva Adeloju Girls Junior Secondary School, Bariga, Lagos.
Sharing their learning experiences from the training, Maranatha Haa, a teacher at Federal Government College, Jos, Plateau State, thanked IHS for the opportunity, stressing that if a teacher is not well empowered, he or she cannot give what he or does not have. She said: “Until we empower our teachers with the right knowledge, we will not have the right nation we deserve,” she said, adding tha she has started integrating space science technology into the school curriculum.
Another beneficiary, Ngobiri Abraham from Federal Government College, Enugu, Enugu State, said the impact the learning experience has had on him is life-changing. According to him, the training has expanded his horizon and it has reflected in the way he imparts knowledge to his students. He said the interest about space technology that has been whipped up among his students now is so phenomenal that he has no doubts in his mind that Nigeria will soon produce astronauts.
Others are Olayinka Adeosun of Ilupeju Junior Grammar School, Lagos; Wahab Abubakar of Sango Senior secondary School, Ilorin, Kwara State; Kayode Adewale of Odu’a Comprehensive High School, Imoru-Ijebu, Ogun State; Oluwabanke Adewusi, Itire Community Senior Secondary School, Itire, Mushin, Lagos; Blessing Akila, ECWA Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue State; Joshua James, Greepath Preparatoty School, Gaduwa District, Abuja; and Soji Megboron of Ifesowapo-Aboru Senior Secondary School, Lagos.