Oracle Corporation said that its information technology (IT) human capacity building programme in collaboration with the Lagos State Government (LASG) has graduated 50 students, six months after it was launched.

Mr. Adebayo Sanni, country managing director for Oracle Nigeria, disclosed this at the Oracle Day 2014 in Lagos, stating that the threefold talent building programme was aimed at promoting the State’s objective to deliver services to the citizens more efficiently.

Sanni said that through the programme, Oracle will ensure Lagos State Government Employees are ready for IT usage; Youths readiness and Workforce Development.

According to him, already, Access Bank has engaged ten (10) of the graduates, while Oracle partners are engaging some of them too. 

The Oracle boss said that Oracle Academy is working with Oracle Academy members Lagos State Polytechnic, Lagos State University and the University of Lagos to support the inclusion of industry-relevant content in their Computer Science programmes and to deliver Oracle database training for university lecturers.

Giving more results on Oracle’s developmental programmes in Nigeria, Sanni said that apart from Lagos, Oracle opened a new office in Abuja and hopes to replicate the feat in other areas.

He stated that Oracle has engaged over 110 Nigerians as employees; 11 interns, 94 partners and have trained over 300 others under its partner-training initiative.

He said, “Oracle instructors in Nigeria are now six (6). We have four (4) basic programmes on developing talents and building capacity of the people. Such programmes are in supporting existing talents; growth specialized talents; nurture future talents and develop new talents.

“We know that the youths are the future of IT in this environment. Earlier in the year we went into partnership with the Lagos State Government. Already, the partnership has led to the graduating of 50 people. Some of them have been absorbed by the State Government and our partners, while institutions like Access Bank acquired ten (10) of them. 

“Computer Science is going to be a key part of the future. So, we are working with Universities like Lagos State University in talents enrichment and equipping existing talents among government employees with Oracle skills to support strategic IT projects as well as leveraging on the expertise of Oracle’s Public Sector Centre of Excellence to run workshops for top Information officers of Ministries, Department and Agencies on best practices, market trends and business solutions on topics such as improving service delivery to the citizens using social media.

“In furtherance of the scheme, it will help in training graduates under the workforce development programme on Oracle Database or Oracle e-Business suite for the acquisition of industry-relevant skills and opportunities for internships within some of the state’s ministries; introducing industry-relevant computer science and Oracle courseware into the curricula of universities and public high schools as well as making the Lagos e-Learning Centre an Oracle University authorized training partner,” he said.

Sanni reiterated that the programmes will assist in tackling the challenges of human capacity and effectively boost economic development in a fast growing economy like Nigeria. Sanni said that Oracle’s goal is getting the youths interested in Computer Science, driving change in ICT syllabi and thereby helping the governments at all levels to future-proof their economies for growth and job creation.

Through ‘Oracle Giving’, he said that the Company has impacted rural dwellers, especially in developing women IT entrepreneurship centres.

Oracle Day is observed yearly for partners and others to share expert advice, discuss problems and opportunities with peers, and see how Oracle can help them take control of clients’ Enterprise IT future.

This year’s Oracle Day in Nigeria was used to push the agenda that digital disruption is transforming the modern business environment, with technologies like cloud and Big Data presenting a fresh set of challenges—but also providing new opportunities, as stated by Janusz Naklicki, vice president, AFTA at Oracle Coorporation.

Part of the day’s discussion was on a Big Data & Business Analytics Track.

According to Naklicki, as organizations embark on digital transformation, cloud, social, mobile and big data are changing how business gets done.

Discovering and predicting insights about people, places and things allows companies to compete in new and innovative ways, he said while listing and explain innovative products and services offered by Oracle to IT companies to be the true business partner for the transformation.

The essence , he added was to enable them create an Information Management and Analytic capability for Big Data which allows the business to take advantage of all available data, blending traditional technology with new innovations, to make every decision in every part of the organization the best it can be at the moment that matters.