| Cisco increases momentum on developmental drive across West Africa Lagos, Nigeria, Tuesday April 10, 2007 - One year after setting up it’s West Africa office in Lagos Nigeria, the world leader in networking for the Internet, Cisco, is stepping up its drive to stimulate social and economic development across the West Africa sub region. In Nigeria, the company has quickly established a strong and growing presence in both the public and private sectors. It is today, in mutually rewarding partnerships with leading corporations across both sectors and helping to provide robust access as a vital catalyst for economic productivity, and development. On April 4, 2007, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced a ground breaking partnership between Cisco and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education. Under the terms of this partnership, Cisco will be assisting the Nigerian government in training and strengthening the skills of some 20,000 university graduates; converting them from otherwise unemployable graduates, to knowledge workers, who are immediately employable in the networking, telecommunications and internet economy. The partnership will fall under the purview of the Cisco Network Academy, a global corporate social responsibility vehicle of Cisco whose objective is to assist students all over the world in building their knowledge and skill base in the area of information and communications technology. Cisco currently has over 10,000 academies across the world and these academies impart skills via a uniform global certification scheme covering different aspects of ICT and spanning specific periods. Cisco’s certification is globally recognized and typically people are more attractive to employers and potential employers when they posses the Cisco certification which are awarded by its Academies. Some of the certifications are Cisco Certified Network Associate - CCNA, Cisco Certified Network Professional - CCNP and the ultimate certification in networking, Cisco Certified Internet Expert - CCIE. Cisco is committed to bear about 84% of the USD 34 m fee which the partnership is expected to gulp, with the Nigerian government bearing the balance of 16%. According to Maduka Emelife, Cisco’s Managing Director for West Africa, the Nigerian project is especially dear to Cisco and is just one of a series of efforts by the organisation to actively assist in the technological empowerment and in that way, the economic development of the West African sub region. Cisco, says Emelife, is also making an incursion into Liberia. “On April 25, we will be holding a workshop with the President, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, her cabinet, the legislature and the key parastatals in Liberia.” The workshop, he says “will help to produce a clear and executable plan for the development of national communications infrastructure which will in turn drive the transformation of Liberia’s social and economic sectors.” Emelife added that “Cisco will deploy its significant technical as well as business resources to assist the Government of Liberia in developing a robust roadmap” for the transformation of Liberia. John Chambers, Cisco’s Chief Executive Officer, says Emelife, “has made a definitive statement to the effect that the two main drivers of change in the world today, are Education and the Internet.” He adds that “Cisco will want to have this apply to Liberia as in elsewhere in the world and consequently, in the course of the workshop in Liberia, we will also be examining ways by which Cisco can assist the Liberian Government in addressing the knowledge and skills shortages in the country”. Cisco’s drive to stimulate development across the west Africa sub region says Emelife, is itself part of Cisco’s universal mission which is to drive social and economic development by enabling people with the skills, the tools and products to gainfully partake in today’s technology-driven global economy. At the end of the day he says, “our efforts pay off not only in helping to create a more robust market for technological products and services, including Cisco’s, but also in enhancing the benefits derivable by society from technology and its evolution”. Cisco formally opened its West Africa offices in Lagos, last April. At the launch, performed by the American Ambassador to Nigeria, who was represented by the Consul General, Mr. Brian Browne, Cisco pledged that through its new offices, it would render differentiated value to customers and partners in Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Its unique vision for the sub region said Emelife was “to help change the way people work, live, play and learn which is itself, a sub-set of Cisco’s global vision”. Founded in 1984 by a husband and wife team, both computer scientists at Stanford University in the United States, Cisco has quickly assumed industry leadership in networking for the Internet and currently employs more than 34,000 staff across the world. Its operations across the West African sub-region are also steadily growing. End Find out more about Cisco on www.cisco.com Contact Press Release issued by XLR8 on behalf of Cisco. Contact Adewole Ojo, +234 802 336 4732. Email, adewole@xlr8.com.ng |