As part of activities marking Finland’s 100th Independence anniversary, the Finnish Embassy in Nigeria and the Aalto University of Finland, would next week host the ‘ CodeBus Africa’ Project in Abuja.
The Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms. Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the ‘CodeBus Africa’ from Finland, would move through Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa.
“This project, being sponsored by NOKIA, is part of Finland’s
celebration of her 100th independence anniversary in ten African countries from February to May, starting from Nigeria.
“Here in Nigeria, the project will promote cooperation between Finnish and Nigerian innovators and businesses, as well as facilitate dialogue among the youth and young professionals.
“It is also aimed at partnering with local technology hubs in building capacity of programme instructors, increase familiarity and confidence with technology among the young at grassroots level.
“It is also to support equal opportunities, and to encourage girls to get involved in technology,’’ she said.
The Ambasssador, who said that about 2,000 youths would be benefiting from the project in the designated countries, disclosed that the project would enable the youth to learn to code songs.
Suomela-Chowdhury said that the project with instructors from Aalto University and local partners in Africa, would be training 50 new coding instructors for Finland and Africa.
According to her, the programmes lined up for the project in Abuja, will hold from Feb. 21 to Feb. 24, before moving to other African countries.
“In each workshop, up to 40 children and youngsters will be trained to code their own piece of music.
“Four volunteer coding instructors from Aalto University, and four local instructors, identified and recruited by the local partner Ventures Platform, will act as instructors in the workshops, she added.
