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Nigerian school without power receives 300 laptops
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by liamssoft | July 4, 2007 at 12:34 pm
1127 views | 12 Recommendations | 8 comments
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A Nigerian school has received a gift of 300 laptops -- one per pupil -- but has no electricity to power them up, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Friday.Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, coordinator of the One-Laptop-Per-Child programme (OLPC) that donated the computer, said the two-block Galadima Primary School in the centre of the federal capital Abuja had no electricity.
Galadima Primary is the first school in the country where each pupil has his own laptop, NAN said.
"We have been browsing the Internet and we are very happy", Juliet Onah, an excited primary six pupil, was quoted as saying.
But she said powering the laptop remained difficult as the school had no electricity and the supply at home was irregular.
Electricity is indeed a big problem in Nigeria, the world's sixth largest exporter of crude oil. Electricity is provided mainly in the cities and even there the service is at best erratic.
Most homes and private businesses rely on generators.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (8)
at 14:59 on July 4th, 2007
I've been trying to flag this story for ever and no such luck... my flag isn't coming alive! Thank you so much liamssoft for feeling us. Now, isn't that about as pathetic as things can get? Little beautiful kids all excited and ready to explore but nowhere to go. It's not just the kids, it's the service providers as well! I've been offline for the past 30 hours or so because my ISP couldn't find gas to power their generators. Nobody relies on power supply in these parts of the wood cos its just not happening and billions of dollars have already been 'expended' on rehabilitating our power generation and grids which is simply another way of saying that they ended up in private pockets and as campaign funds. Our previous Minister of power and steel is now governor of his state, Cross Rivers, that's part of what funds for electricity generation bought him! His kids all school abroad and his brothers live in stupendous decadence in America. It's a never-ending story!
I spend about $30,000 every 6 months on gas for running my factory and this figure ossilates erratically depending on how 'friendly' you get with officials of our power holding company. The fangs and fingers of corruption are serially malignant, seeping into every crevice of our national society and now, it's about set to leave our kids stunted and disabled in the greater global community with which they must interact. It's all such a screaming shame and someone must really set about doing these corrupt leaders in... and that's no easy task, I can assure you but it is a task that must be done! This here is also part of that never-ending story.
Finally, can admin help me flag this story, I need some help with it! I've still got the spinning wheel rolling but that's about all that's happening.
at 13:41 on July 5th, 2007
Thanks for the facts
egoigwe
at 14:23 on July 4th, 2007
liamssoft, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 13:37 on July 5th, 2007
thanks pollyanna
at 16:13 on July 4th, 2007
This here is like two flags: one from me and one from egoigwe!
The back-story to this conundrum, as elucidated above, is as disturbing as the initial story is (at first) funny.
(Also, is it just me, or is that laptop about 1000 times cooler than mine?)
at 13:40 on July 5th, 2007
Thanks jordan
at 10:52 on July 30th, 2007
"A Nigerian school has received a gift of 300 laptops [...] but has no electricity to power them up"
But I thought the whole point of OLPCs was that they could be used in environment where the electricity supply is not reliable or non-existent, thanks to a hand-charging mechanism (crank or string). So is the article's point to confirm the OLPC as a workable solution for schools without electricity, or to complain about the electricity problem in Nigeria...?
at 11:05 on October 23rd, 2007
These were not hand cranked laptops which generate there own electricity. They require electricity from generation. By implication electricity is a problem for Nigeria and infrastructure for power lines would bring them into the present.