A new technology partnership in Nigeria

Bridge is committed to helping governments achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal four as quickly as possible. The target is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning by 2030.

Partnership is recognised by those committed to this goal as essential to combine the best that the public and the private sectors have to offer, to improve learning outcomes and efficacy. With this purpose in mind, Bridge has been working with the Lagos state government since 2015 on the improvement of education outcomes in a range of under-served communities.

That partnership has now been further strengthened through an innovative technology programme that aims to train a million young people with coding skills. <em>CodeLagos</em> is a new initiative that will help to transition Lagos into a hub for technology experts and build a strong technology workforce. Twenty three Bridge academies and 3,000 pupils will take part in the initiative and the selected academies will serve as training centres for the programme.

Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh emphasized how the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, “has set a target to push Lagos State from the fifth largest to the third largest economy in Africa, and we will need a new generation of technology literate graduates to drive that forward. The appetite for investment in technology must continue to increase as this has become the most viable way to feed the growth of many social and economic indices.” He stated that, “as we seek to educate our burgeoning population for the future, we are pleased to be partnering strategically with Bridge.”

The <em>CodeLagos</em> partnership further extends the relationship between Lagos State and Bridge and comes as Bridge opens an additional 14 schools in Lagos, increasing its network of high quality academies to 37, across the state, enabling 7400 pupils to benefit. The expansion means Bridge now employs 271 teachers, creating a total of around 450 jobs in Nigeria.The Lagos government hopes that the partnership will enable the exceptional learning gains achieved by Bridge pupils in Kenya to be replicated in Nigeria.

The fourteen new schools are located in some of the poorest and most under-served areas of Lagos, including the slum areas of Alimosho and Ojo.

According to UNESCO, of the 260 million out of school children in world, 9 million of them are in Nigeria and 4.7 million of those are primary school children in Nigeria. As such, Bridge is excited to be partnering with state governments, like Lagos, to accelerate their reforms and drive forward access to quality nursery and primary education, which will ensure the continuing growth and prosperity of Nigeria.