One of Nigeria’s major telecoms companies Etisalat has announced it is partnering with Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in the training telecommunication engineering students. This was announced in Lagos by the network’s Public Relations Manager at Etisalat Nigeria, Chineze Amanfo. The partnership, she said, is geared towards enhancing local capacity building in the sector.
She said Etisalat has been at the forefront, promoting local innovation in the telecoms industry, but promised that the company would do more in engendering participation in local innovation in the telecoms industry, especially now that the subscriber number across all networks is increasing daily, with its current figure put at 142 million active subscribers.
She noted that there is the need to further grow the telecoms sector through capacity building and the creation of local innovation solutions. She said Etisalat which is the fourth entrant into the Nigerian GSM market is set to increase its involvement in local innovation that will further drive growth in the telecoms sector.
In his remark, Chairman of Zinox Group, Mr. Leo-Stan Ekeh, said local innovation is important to telecoms growth. He therefore challenged the federal government to invest heavily in ICTin order to promote local innovation in the ICT sector.
“When Etisalat rolled out its services in 2008, years after other operators rolled out their services, Etisalat changed the face of marketing campaign in the country with the use of home grown musicians, and this is all about local innovation,” Ekeh said.
