In recognition of the prevalence of first time users, the offer includes free computer training for every laptop purchased. Different segments of the population are jostling for computer training in designated centers. The old, the young, the literate and the semi literate, the civil servants and the businessmen, everyone is learning to use the new tool for work and play – courtesy of the e–Knowledge Project.
Investigation revealed that Zinox has an office in each major cities in the South-East namely: Enugu, Onitsha, Awka, Aba, Umuahia, Owerri, and Abakaliki. Never in the history of IT marketing in Nigeria has the grassroots been stormed the way it is done today by the Computerize Nigeria Project. In plain terms, computers have been carried to the homes of the common man.
A trader at Ariaria Market in Aba, Njoku Ekwebelem, who bought a laptop and is already enjoying a free training at Ogbor Hill, expressed deep gratitude to the CNP for bringing computer training to their doorsteps. He was happy that the e-knowledge promo has compelled him not only to buy a laptop but also to acquire computer training. Desmond Ikpe, a staff of a Shalom Business Center in Umuahia is upbeat that there was an upsurge in the number of persons seeking to acquire computer training. He said that all those engaged in training are having a temporary boom. For Obioma Okafor, who works in a commercial bank in Onitsha, the e– knowledge promo is a blessing because of the affordable prices.
When contacted on phone, the CEO Computerize Nigeria, Mrs Vivian Abii, explained that what was going on in the South- East was a major marketing initiative aimed at computerizing the people and digitalizing the processes of work and play. She said that one of the objectives of e–knowledge project was to hasten the pace of e-governance and e-business in the country beginning from the South-East.
She explained that beyond some tertiary institutions, the South-East appeared oblivious of the giant strides that other parts of the country are making in IT. Mrs. Abii said that it was proper to storm the South-East at the rate that the Computerize Nigeria Project was doing in order to shake its citizens out of their IT apathy.
The CEO Computerize Nigeria urged the governments and people of the South-East to take advantage of the various incentives that are embedded in the e-knowledge project to join the information highway. She explained that the incentives include free training, free six months internet access at the secretariat of the local or state government that buys into this vision, free computer laboratory for the training of civil servants, original Microsoft licences, flexible payment terms for cooperatives and educational institutions. Mrs. Abii noted that all these would be backed up by the Zinox no-story-warranty executed from 13 support centers across the nation. She explained further that the systems come standard with inventory software to enable traders to track inventory, determine daily profitability and keep stock.
The Computerize Nigeria Project is a Zinox Computers initiative, set up in 2001, to promote understanding for, and adoption of the computer as a major tool of work and play. Currently, the Computerize Nigeria Project, in partnership with the National Universities Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education, is involved in the provision of computers for knowledge for workers in the educational sector including students and lecturers.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Christian Ochiama
Quelle/Source: Daily Sun, 18.06.2008
