Intel commits to Nigeria

Intel chairman Craig Barrett and several high-level executives visited Nigeria last week to drive the company`s digital projects in the areas of health and education.

Barrett, along with corporate affairs senior VP Bruce Sewell, GM for south and Sub-Saharan Africa Jacques van Schalkwyk, and VP and GM of Intel EMEA Gordon Graylish, visited the West African country`s capital, Abuja, to promote a set of digital inclusion initiatives.

The visit formed part of the Intel World Ahead Programme, which aims to advance progress in the areas of accessibility, connectivity, education and content in the developing countries. Projects have also been launched in Egypt, Morocco, Ghana and SA.

In Nigeria, Barrett unveiled a pilot WiMax telemedicine project, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Health, which is aimed at bringing paediatric care to a rural hospital that serves a region of 4.5 million people.

In addition, Intel concluded several deals with the Federal Ministry of Education to expand a number of educational initiatives, including the training of 150 000 teachers and donating 3 000 Classmate PCs to 200 schools.

The chipmaker has been running a proof-of-concept project at the Government Secondary School Jabi, in Abuja, for the past year. Speaking at a ceremony at the school, Barrett described the project as a success, but pointed out that broadband Internet access costs were still too high in most parts of Africa.

Addressing the media, Graylish stated the success of wireless-based projects, such as the Classmate PC initiative, has created a mind-shift among African leaders and how the need for rural connectivity is approached.

He explained that, having recently attended the Connect Africa Summit, in Rwanda, the issue surrounding Internet access has shifted from `should we care about things like broadband and connecting our continent` to 'how?`

But, added Graylish: "We need to spread this. With wireless technology we can drop the cost and it becomes possible to have every school connected." This, he said, has become all of Africa`s challenge - to determine how to establish "New World" cities.

Van Schalkwyk stressed this is not a once-off project that Intel is running. "This is not a new project we`re launching. We`ve made sure that we know what the challenges are. We`ve spent a year running the proof-of-concept project, before doing a full-scale launch. We wanted to see what would make this project unique and what would make it work."

This, he pointed out, included establishing an adequate "ecosystem" around the initiative to ensure the involvement of local OEMs that can provide backup, support and maintenance for the devices.

However, a new component of the project was the launch of the localised version of the Classmate PC, which offers students local content and curriculum in local languages and dialects. Van Schalkwyk stated Intel invested $6 million to provide this content.

Intel is also working closely with Nigerian telecommunications companies on connectivity issues, said Van Schalkwyk, to harness technologies, such as WiMax, to lower the costs of connectivity to participating schools.

Graylish stressed: "This [project] is not about giving people fish, it`s about teaching people to fish."