Experts in mobile communications technology have stressed the need for educators in Nigeria to be up to speed with modern reality if the country would meet her millennium develop goals (MDGs) target and beyond.
After a thorough analysis of Nigeria’s market leadership position in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), in only about a decade since mobile telephony was introduced, various speakers at the conference tagged “MobileWeb West Africa” agreed that the country’s education system was not in sync with present reality.
Alex Dadson, managing director, Qualcomm West Africa, who spoke to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek exclusively stated that the education system in Nigeria would need a general overhaul to meet the market reality.
Dadson stated that multinational ICT firms usually have to retrain local graduates to fit into the workplace because of the gap between what is taught in the Universities and the work-place environment.
And as a practical demonstration of filling-in-gap, the leading global US chipset manufacturers organized a special training workshop for about 30 young Nigerian application developers at the MobileWeb conference.
It also introduced a new product into the market called Augmented Reality.
Dadson stated that Augmented Reality. is a special app that identifies images and augment the users’ experience in the mobile ecosystem.
Tunde Kehinde, a young and leading under 30 mobile online entrepreneur concurred with Dadson that Nigeria’s education system need major innovative overhaul to meet market reality.
“I attended primary and high school in Nigeria, but went abroad for post secondary education. Yes, there is a need for some major overall in our education curricula to fit into the advancing technological trend,” said Kehinde.
Kehinde’s Jumia is rated ahead of Amazon and eBay in global search engines from Nigerian searches for online shopping.
He believes Nigerian have the capacity to excel, but need the education to match their counterparts in other markets across the globe.
Several other experts also spoke on the emerging mobileweb space as next big thing in online entrepreneurship.
Elo Umeh, CEO of Twinpine Mobile Advertising reiterated that mobile web advertising is design as a veritable tool for big multinationals and local SMEs to explore and promote their businesses to their prospective clients.
Umeh, added that busineses can set value at the long run, for money invested to the business, by advertising on mobile platforms which relate to return on investment.
Specifically, he stated that this is done by showcasing products and services to both prospective and existing customers. Mobile web advertising is possible through website posters, SMS platforms on mobile phones.
The Twinpine executive stressed that their big push is a 30 million customer target by 2014, with services cutting across all sectors of the Nigerian economy including news, entertainment, gossips and sports.
Mrs. Harey Oyindamola Ogundeyi, industry manager, Google, stated that there was a huge market to be discovered in mobile branding opportunities for brands to reach their customers.
These platforms include the use of mobile video (which is in vogue) amongst music lovers, through mobile phones or the internet.
She noted that this can be harnessed by using it at people’s convenience, either at home, work or on the move, describing it as a unique feature.
Ogundeyi stressed further that this devices has created a platform of opportunities of freedom for people to part into civilized world. She declared that the platform makes “advertising on the net easy, through the process of search and display.”
Olusegun Martins, head technology at Insight Communication, shared similar views with Mrs. Ogundeyi.
He noted that the modern day technological advancement and innovation means mobile users are connected to various sectors of activities on the World Wide Web (www), for gathering and dissemination of information.
Martins added that this technological techniques makes brands a believable character, in any story message it delivers to its audience. He added (unscientific) that well over 25 percent on Nigerian mobile phone users are on the smartphones segment, turns it into life companionship.
“This trend enables people to sleep and wakeup with their phones even at night and early hours of the morning.”
Martins describes the emerging lifestyle “as emotional connection, media hub, shopping companies and personal assistance tools to life.”
Mr. Deepanker Rustagi, general manager, VCconect.com X-rayed the importance of the mobile web platform in helping to develop the small medium entrepreneur to grow their business by assisting them to design good strategies, to enable their prospective customers, which will go a long way, for them to have value for their investments.